Resurrección SS arc
by Naomi Shihoin
Summary: In an alternate universe, three traitors have set a plot in motion that will shake the three realms to their cores. The unwanted Vizards and Segunda Etapa rebels stand against Soul Society's forcibly turned Arrancar, facing the devastating reality that their best Soul Reapers are gone forever.
1. Fallen

**A/N**: This was an idea I came up with after browsing deviantart recently and decided to start typing Resurrección while I was roughly a quarter of the way through chapter 4 part 2 of Through Our Eyes. Chapter 1 is long, but sets the scene perfectly. There are points that connect Resurrección with Through Our Eyes and, honestly, it was deliberate; but I'm afraid that's where the similarities end. Resurrección is a whole new world for me, so let's enjoy this together, shall we?

While it does have characters from TOE, Resurrección is in a parallel universe to the universe I have created for Through Our Eyes, and it starts around the TBTP arc where it is revealed the strongest males of the lesser-ranked Sōsuke clan have been weaving their deceit through the Gotei 13 since Yamamoto founded the Academy.

How will the Bleach universe change? Will the characters we're all familiar with still be in their standard positions? How will the Sōsuke clan's plans change the fate of Soul Society? So, please read on! Thanks for your time.

**Warnings**: Vizard/Espada-centric (not until chapter 2), Ichigo-is-Kaien, reincarnation, major AU, prelude to Winter War, M rating.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Bleach. Not saying it again.

_**Resurrección**_

_**Chapter 1: Fallen**_

**I**.

— 1st Division office; all taichou and fukutaichou present, except Yoruichi and Shaolin —

"This is an emergency! According to the report I received from the 2nd Division's Onmitsukidō branch, we've lost reiatsu reception from both Shihōin-taichou and Feng-fukutaichou; the cause is unidentified. We've entered a worst-case scenario; until yesterday, these events only occurred in Rukongai. But we must solve this now in order to protect our honour as the Thirteen Guard Protection Squads!" the sou-taichou decided resolutely. Then he slammed his cane on the ground. "In response, I shall select a patrol of Soul Reapers to investigate the area of the incident!" he continued.

"Jaegerjaquez-fukutaichou and Odelschwanck-taichou of the 10th Division, Hisagi-fukutaichou of the 9th Division, Kuchiki-fukutaichou of the 6th Division, Ichimaru-fukutaichou of the 7th Division and Matsumoto-fukutaichou of the 3rd Division; you six will investigate the area!" The sou-taichou glanced at each person he named. "You are all dismissed!" He spoke firmly and they bowed, before he slammed his staff on the ground once again and the chosen Shinigami left in a series of shunpoes.

...

— In the field —

"You're... Tōsen! Why? You... betrayed Kensei... your own taichou?" Shūhei demanded as he looked at one of the traitors of Soul Society.

"He didn't betray anyone," a voice said, making Shūhei focus his attention on the familiar sound; he'd been at the Academy with the owner of that voice, so he knew who it was. He stared at the figure and found... Hirako-taichou's fukutaichou, Aizen Sōsuke. "He's quite loyal; he obeyed every order I gave him. Please don't be angry with him, Hisagi-fukutaichou."

Shūhei appeared shocked at first, but it turned to anger as he took everything in. "Aizen... Shinji knew it all along! You started all this!" he yelled.

Aizen smirked. "You noticed? I'm not surprised."

Shūhei stirred on the ground. "Of course I did!" he spat.

"Since when?" Aizen questioned.

Shūhei stared at him, his expression blank. "Since Shinji told us about his wariness of you after Neliel's taichou test."

Aizen glared at him. "I see."

But Shūhei wasn't done yet. "Shinji always knew you were dangerous; that you were not a man to be trusted. That's why he chose you to be his fukutaichou; it was so he could watch you, Aizen!" he shouted angrily.

"Yes, and I'm most grateful, Hisagi-fukutaichou. Thanks to all of you constantly doubting me, none of you ever realized," Aizen answered, with a slight smirk forming on his face.

"I just said we did!" Shūhei yelled again, glaring at his friend's former fukutaichou.

"No, you didn't see a thing. For this whole month, I wasn't the one walking behind Hirako-taichou," he replied confidently, causing Shūhei's eyes to widen. "I can make my enemies believe anything I want them to; that's my Zanpakutō's, Kyoka Suigetsu's, true ability. I refer to its power as... absolute hypnosis." Aizen looked smug.

"Absolute hypnosis?" Shūhei repeated, widening his eyes slightly.

"You're a clever man, Hisagi-fukutaichou; you're all quite sharp, in fact. If any of you had treated me the same way the other taichou treat their fukutaichou, you might have seen through it. But none of you tried; since you never trusted me, you always kept me at arm's length. You never opened up to me, never shared any information, you never tried to get to know me... that's why none of you noticed when I had someone else take my place. I had my substitute memorize my behavioural patterns and the way I interacted with the other taichou; if you had truly tried to know me, you would have noticed slight differences in our mannerisms. The reason why you're down on the ground right now is all because you never bothered to get to know me. Did you understand all that... Hisagi-fukutaichou?" Aizen mocked the other fukutaichou.

"Aizen..." Shūhei growled in pure anger.

"One more thing; you said Hirako-taichou selected me as his fukutaichou so he could keep an eye on me. But that's incorrect," he started again, with yet another smug expression on his face.

"What?" was Shūhei's only reply.

"Just as taichou have the right to appoint their own fukutaichou, the candidate has the right to reject the offer. Of course, that's hardly ever happened; but nonetheless I had the option of not becoming Hirako-taichou's fukutaichou. So why did I take it? Because you were all perfect; your suspicious natures and caution around me created the ideal environment for my plans. Now do you understand? Hirako-taichou didn't choose me... I chose him, Hisagi-fukutaichou. You should take the chance to apologize to your friends... they're on the ground bleeding because you came to me," Aizen finished in his mocking voice.

Shūhei stood up suddenly and readied his Zanpakutō. "Aizen!" he yelled, just before his face was engulfed in some sort of pale white liquid that hardened over one side of his face, forming a mask.

"Thank you for allowing my little taunts to anger you," Aizen stated, continuing to mock him.

_It's happening to me, too?_ "Aizen! What's going on?" Shūhei demanded as he struggled to stay on his feet.

"It seems that the Hollowfication process proceeds quicker if the subject is agitated," Aizen murmured to himself as if he was observing an experiment.

Shūhei's eyes widened more than they had the times before. "H-Hollowfication? What... is that?" he questioned, still angry.

Aizen smirked. "You don't need to know."

A few metres away, Rangiku finally stood up and looked through her Hollow mask's eye holes at what was transpiring. "Shū... hei," she managed to get out.

Aizen noticed this, glanced at Tōsen and nodded. "Kaname," he said simply, as if it were an order.

"Yes, sir!" Tōsen replied, nodding his head.

He disappeared in a shunpo, came up to Rangiku and swung his sword down at her.

"Don't!" Shūhei yelled in desperation but, before Tōsen's blade hit her, it was stopped by a double-sided lance.

"Impossi-" Tōsen was cut off by a fist colliding with his stomach from Neliel and was sent flying backwards towards Aizen.

"Odelschwanck-taichou?" Shūhei asked. "What are you doing here?" he continued.

"Never been to this part of Rukongai before, but I'm saving your life," she muttered good-naturedly. "I don't know what's going on... but it seems not all has gone according to plan, am I correct, Aizen?" Neliel asked, narrowing her eyes at the foe.

Aizen just smirked. "Another test subject for my experiment? What a subject it is," he commented with his smug attitude.

"What would you like me to do?" Tōsen asked.

"You may proceed, although... I would like to include her as my next subject."

"Subject, huh? What an interesting choice of words," Neliel said darkly as she walked forward to attack Aizen, but was stopped by Tōsen.

But Neliel merely thrust her lance forward into Tōsen's face; Tōsen blocked with his sword, but the sheer force and extreme speed of the lance's thrust pushed Tōsen fifty metres away. Aizen was caught off-guard by Neliel's display of strength, but he wasn't able to do anything before he saw the lance coming straight for his face. He managed to dodge out of the way, but barely. "Impressive, Odelschwanck-taichou," he remarked, trying to goad the captain into making a mistake.

Neliel stared at him, as if he was crazy; she knew what he was trying to do and wasn't about to make a mistake. Tōsen came swinging his blade at her, but all of them were futile, as Neliel either dodged or parried the attacks with her lance. "Looks like the bitch is holding back," sadistic Mayuri spoke up coldly.

Aizen glanced over at him and then back at Neliel. "It does indeed," he noted, frowning. _It appears Tōsen is too far outmatched; I'll have to do this myself_, he thought as he disappeared in a shunpo.

He came up to Neliel and was about to swing his sword at her, but was stopped by Shūhei. "I'm not finished with you yet!" Hisagi exclaimed, giving Aizen his own smirk, albeit fatigued.

Neliel pushed Tōsen away and followed after him; too quick for him to react and delivered another punch to his stomach. Tōsen gasped for air, but was cut short when Neliel spun around and drove her lance into his face, the move charged by immense spiritual energy.

"Hmm, she has power after all," Mayuri observed with a sneer as he stared at Neliel with interested, calculating eyes.

On the other side of the field, Shūhei parried Aizen's sword and went to slice him, but Aizen dodged. Aizen used a shunpo to get behind him, but Shūhei once more parried, back flipped over his head and smirked as he got behind Aizen. He sliced Aizen deeply through his back, then followed it up by stabbing him through the back and out his chest. _That seemed too easy, but... what gives? This doesn't make any sense; I can't tell if I'm hurting or not. No wonder Yoruichi mopped the floor with us so easily_, he thought as he watched Aizen's body drop to the ground.

But then... his body shattered, as if it were made of glass and Shūhei became wide-eyed at the turn of events. "W-What?" he demanded, then he looked in Neliel's direction and saw Aizen making his approach on the taichou he'd been at the Academy with. "Damn!" he cursed, as he hurried to stop him, but then another explosion of the mask's liquid burst out of his mouth and eyes. "S-Shit!"

Neliel was easily taking care of Tōsen, even though she was holding back quite a lot; she did not want to kill anyone... not yet. Just as she turned to run Tōsen through with her lance, she felt a sword pierce her back from behind and saw the blade at her front. She widened her eyes instantly. _How? I didn't sense anything coming towards me. Why didn't I-_ She turned around to see Aizen appear from behind her as if the space had shattered like glass. _His shikai! Shit! Why didn't I remember that?!_ Neliel thought.

Neliel staggered, but stayed on her feet. "I'm quite impressed that you're still standing, however; after all, it would be a shame if you died before the Hollowfication process began," Aizen gave faux praise, chuckling.

Neliel glared at him. "Let's see what I can accomplish before it does," she countered calmly, as she disappeared then reappeared behind Aizen, readying a round house kick to the side of his face.

Aizen was once again just barely able to dodge it and got out of the way for Tōsen to have enough room to attack. Neliel blocked his attack, swept it aside and charged at Aizen. He was gone; Neliel sensed her opponent just behind her, however, gripped Gamuza and blocked the strike with her lance. She turned to see a narrowed-eyed Aizen, swept the sword aside and followed through with a fierce lunge from her lance to Aizen's face, causing him to go flying back twenty metres. Tōsen replaced him and came up on Neliel's left side to take a swing at her exposed ribs, but Neliel brought her lance back, just quick enough to catch Tōsen's blade with Gamuza and throw it to one side.

Tōsen had a surprised expression cross his face and, before he could react, Neliel thrust her Shikai in his face again, throwing him in the same direction she'd thrown Aizen. He crashed to the ground only six metres from where Aizen currently stood, slightly panting. As Tōsen got to his feet, he turned to Aizen. "My... greatest apologies; I will... kill her... shortly," he huffed, completely winded.

Aizen shook his head. "No... You won't; she outmatches both of us in every way possible, but don't worry... the effects should be hitting her in a few minutes, then she'll be too weak to stand. As for you," the fukutaichou stared at Shūhei. "I have no further use for you; but I do have one last thing to tell you both: There is no fear when one expects to be betrayed, what is truly terrifying is when betrayal is unexpected. Hisagi-fukutaichou, Odelschwanck-taichou... farewell," he concluded as he shunpoed to where Shūhei was kneeling, unable to react due to the Hollowfication taking over the rest of his body. Aizen raised his blade to finish the fukutaichou, but was stopped by Neliel. "The process still has not begun?" Aizen asked tersely, glaring at Neliel.

But no sooner had Aizen said that, the same mask liquid that was covering Shūhei's face and chest shot out of Neliel's mouth and eyes. "D-Damn..." she swore.

Aizen glanced over at Neliel and formed a look of satisfaction on his face. "At last... it has finally begun; now I can observe the latest subject in my experiment."

Neliel was beginning to feel really weak; she was barely able to stand and ended up collapsing to her knees. She glanced at Aizen's damn smug face and, as she became even angrier, the mask suddenly exploded out of her. _Shit! I can't even stand up! I can't do this!_ She realized, as the mask quickly started covering her face, so no one noticed her face contort into uncontrolled rage.

Aizen's eyes widened in intrigue and a slight hint of fear, but he continued smiling nonetheless. _Is she attempting to stop the process by overpowering it with her spiritual pressure? Very interesting, yet futile_, he thought, as Neliel's spiritual pressure continued to grow and was beginning to make everyone nearby very uncomfortable... even Aizen.

"Most impressive," Aizen noted, beginning to cringe at the amount of pressure he was feeling radiating from Neliel. Tōsen fell to his knees and Mayuri was forced completely to the ground.

Neliel's mask had already formed on her face; it had the look of a ram with longer and more curved horns that extended slightly, framing the sides of her face, particularly the cheeks. The mask itself covered her whole face, the facial section tapering down almost triangularly, following Neliel's jaw line.

**II**.

Within moments, the pressure from Neliel's spirit energy had now become too much for anyone to stand or breathe. "This... can't be happening... I... can't... die... from someone's... spiritual pressure!" Aizen screamed at himself as he was finally forced all the way to the ground.

Then, it just stopped and they all glanced at each other with surprised expressions on their faces, before looking over at Neliel. "Shit! I never... wanted this," she barely got out as she swayed on her feet.

Aizen stared at her, pleased, as he got back to his feet. "Congratulations, Odelschwanck-taichou," he smirked at his success.

Neliel glared at him, but she had no energy left; she couldn't stand anymore. "I... failed-" she was cut short when she collapsed face first on the ground.

Aizen walked over to her and raised his blade. "Though it is quite a shame to kill a subject as... interesting as you, I'm afraid in order for my plans to go unnoticed; I must do what needs to be done." He raised his sword higher. "Goodbye Odelschwanck-taichou, you truly were remarkable and the only one I actually feared," he whispered at the end. Just as he was about to swing his blade, he saw a glimpse of something in the corner of his eye and without warning, the fukutaichou badge on his uniform was cut off. He turned to the newcomers. "I see we have even more interesting guests. How may I help you?" he asked, as if he was merely inviting them for tea.

"Hmph, they found us," Mayuri snorted disdainfully and steadied himself on his feet.

"I'll kill them!" Tōsen exclaimed as he readied his sword.

"There's no need," Aizen shook his head.

"But-!" Tōsen tried to argue, but stopped himself when Aizen glanced back at him.

"Kaname, I said there's no need," the fukutaichou narrowed his eyes at the blind man, making him kneel down.

"Yes, sir! Please forgive my impudence!" Tōsen begged.

A sudden movement caught everyone's eyes. "K-Kiru! Why... are you here?" Shūhei spoke as he made his way over to them.

"What's with that horrific mask?" Kiru asked in slight shock.

"Tell me about it," Shūhei replied with a huff.

Kiru smiled at him for a moment and then focused on Aizen. "Sōsuke-fukutaichou!" he called, narrowing his eyes at the man.

"Sir!" Aizen replied.

"What are you doing here?" Kiru inquired in a serious tone.

"Nothing. As you can see, I happened to stumble upon the investigation teams, who were apparently hurt in battle. I was going to heal their wounds," Aizen answered, as if it were true.

"You two-faced piece of shi-!" Shūhei snapped, but started choking again as the mask liquid came out of his mouth and eyes.

Kiru sighed and shook his head sadly. "Why are you lying to me?" he asked.

"Lying? Is there something wrong with a fukutaichou attempting to save other Soul Reapers lives?" Aizen questioned in false confusion.

"That's not what I meant. Injured in battle? Injured? There's no lying your way out of this; they've been Hollowfied," Kiru explained, causing Shunsui and Jūshirō's eyes to widen in horror. "The vanishing souls, several Shinigami vanishing one after the other; it all led up to this. The only possible cause of this is Hollowfication research. Someone was conducting experiments and considering the current situation, there's no longer any doubt who that person is."

Aizen seemed to smile at him. "I see. You truly are the type of man I believed you to be. I'm happy that you came by this evening. I have a little fact you might want to know: the strongest males in my clan, who are lesser-ranked like the Izuru, having been weaving deceit throughout the Gotei 13 since the sou-taichou founded the Academy. What you find if you return will not be what you're expecting, I can assure you of that. Mayuri, Kaname; we've accomplished enough for now. Let's go." He turned and walked away with the other two following close behind him.

"I'm not done yet, Aizen!" Kiru demanded, but then...

"Please move, Urahara!" Tessai shouted as he readied his hands for a Kidō spell, causing Kiru to jump out of the way. "Way of Destruction No. 88: Flying Dragon Strike, Heaven Shaking Lightning Cannon!" An enormous blast of blue electricity burst from his hands and shot towards Aizen, Tōsen and Mayuri.

"Way of Destruction No. 81: Severing Void."

Once the blast came within a few metres of them, it was suddenly stopped in its tracks by an invisible wall that appeared out of thin air. "Impossible! A fukutaichou... skipped the incantation for Severing Void and still stopped my attack?" Tessai couldn't believe it, becoming wide-eyed behind his dark glasses.

The wall shattered into nothing and revealed that Aizen, Tōsen and Mayuri were long gone. Kiru stood up, with wide eyes. "Tessai, what on earth is he...?" he asked as he narrowed his eyes at the spot Aizen had been a moment before. But he never got the chance to answer, because Shūhei suddenly let out a strangled cry of pain and fell to the ground. "Hisagi!" Kiru called out as he, Tessai, Shunsui and Jūshirō hurried to the man's side.

"We'll deal with Aizen later! Kiru, please help Shūhei and the others," Shunsui stated, looking over at the other Shinigami.

"It's no good; the Hollowfication process has advanced too far for me to help them here!" Kiru sounded stressed, taking a quick glance at Neliel. _Kisuke never told me about this, except for what his precious little ball does_, he thought, looking back at Shūhei.

"Kiru, it seems you understand what's going on here; I haven't so much as heard of Hollowfication, yet you seem to know about it. You must know how to reverse the process, am I correct in making that assumption?" Jūshirō questioned, staring intensely at Kiru.

"I actually know nothing about the subject. Kisuke was the brains in the family; we're lucky he created a device for such problems as this. It'll be a gamble," he answered after a few moments.

"At least it's better than nothing. I'm going to carry all nine of them just as they are to the 12th Division's barracks; we'll save them with whatever equipment Kisuke has there," Tessai explained, getting to his feet, shifting them apart and putting his hands in front of him.

"Nine?" Shunsui raised his hat in confusion.

Kiru nodded gravely, pointing to the base of a tree where a still figure lay. He got up and dragged the body over to the Hollowfied Shinigami, noticing that it was already too late to save this one as he had a complete bone fragment of what appeared to be a wolf's muzzle, including teeth. Then he paused, studying the person closely. _A Quincy?! Mayuri Arrancarfied a Quincy?! ****!_ "Just as they are? How can you do that?" Kiru asked, becoming very pale as his eyes kept shooting back towards the Arrancarfied Quincy.

"I'll have to freeze time and teleport us," came the response as Tessai separated his hands, revealing a glowing rectangular cube of pure Kidō.

"W-What?" Kiru spluttered.

Shunsui and Jūshirō shared an uncertain glance between themselves.

"Both of these are forbidden techniques; those who use them are severely punished. I insist you close your eyes and block your ears!" he called over his shoulder as the entire area around them began to glow a brilliant yellowish-green and then, in a flash of light, all of them were gone.

...

— 12th Division Barracks —

They arrived inside the taichou's quarters in a flash of light. Tessai let out a few exhausted breathes as he looked around to ensure everyone was here.

"Hollowfication was one of the answers Kisuke stumbled upon while researching how to strengthen Shinigami souls. During the course of his research, he created something that can temporarily break the barrier between Hollow and Shinigami to create a new being. That's what I'll use to heal Hisagi and the others," Kiru explained, as he walked over to a metal safe and began pressing buttons to open it.

"What is this object?" Shunsui asked, watching the younger Shinigami uncovering a small stone in his hand.

"Kisuke calls it the Hōgyoku," Kiru replied, holding the glowing object.

"Hōgyoku?" Jūshirō repeated in confusion. "Can we save them with this? Will Neliel and the others really...?" he began, but was interrupted by Kiru.

"Remember what I said; this is a gamble. Hisagi and the others have a twenty percent chance of getting better at best after we use the Hōgyoku," Kiru clarified.

"Twenty percent?" Tessai echoed in shock.

"If Sōsuke-fukutaichou was really behind the vanishing souls, he probably didn't anticipate the process might be reversible. We can't heal them... without this," Kiru described further.

"Kiru, what about Neliel?" Shunsui queried, finally noticing how much Kiru was avoiding her name.

Kiru glanced at him and then over to Neliel, who was lying face down on the ground still, the mask still covering her face. "She has roughly the same chance. But since she was stabbed in the chest, she will likely turn out to be an Arrancar now. The only thing we can do, for the Shinigami, is stabilize their Hollow and Shinigami powers, so one won't rule over another." He tried to sound cheerful. Tessai's eyes widened and he nodded sadly. "We'll do the best we can," Kiru continued and Tessai nodded once more.

Kiru's mind started whirling with possibilities and he didn't hear Tessai ask a question, desperate for an answer. "We better get to work." He held up the Hōgyoku, not wanting to think of what to say, before sharing a knowing glance at Shunsui and Jūshirō, who waited in the shadows. They returned the gesture and shunpoed out of the quarters.

**III**.

— Three hours later —

Tessai woke up and immediately noticed the figures, fully Hollowfied and very bestial. He shook his head. "... We failed," he cursed himself, lowering his head as Kiru walked in and became aware of the situation, but in reverse.

"I guess we were too late," he said to himself with an anxious expression on his face. He gave a light laugh, before turning and heading down a hall. "I'm getting some air."

…

— Inside Central 46's chambers —

"What is this about?" Kiru asked, as he tested the strength of the bind his hands were in.

"Did we give you permission to speak? You're here to be interrogated; you are not permitted to speak unless it is to answer our questions. Now consider the situation you're in, 3rd Seat!" One of the central members declared.

_Interrogated? Are we under suspicion for something?_ Kiru wondered, looking around the darkened room. "My apologies," he murmured, lowering his head.

"Where were you midnight last night?" Another member asked forcefully.

"In the 6th district forest of Western Fugai," Kiru answered.

"Was it for your Hollowfication research?" Yet another demanded, causing Kiru's eyes to widen and his head to jerk up.

"Hold on a second! Who told you that I-?" he started, but another member interrupted him.

"You went to Fugai to see the results of your evil Hollowfication experiments on eight people of taichou level strength, starting with the 10th Division's taichou. Is that not accurate?"

Kiru's eyes widened even further as he recalled Aizen's words from last night. _"You truly are the type of man I believed you to be. I have a little fact you might want to know: the strongest males in my clan, who are lesser-ranked like the Izuru, having been weaving deceit throughout the Gotei 13 since the sou-taichou founded the Academy. What you find if you return will not be what you're expecting, I can assure you of that_."

"Who was it?" he questioned angrily.

"You have no right to ask questions!" One of the others shot back at him.

"Was it Sōsuke-fukutaichou?" Kiru pushed, looking at each of them.

"This is your second warning, 3rd Seat! Do it again and we'll add it to your list of crimes!" was the only reply he received.

"But he's the one who did all this! We went there to save Hisagi and the others!" he protested.

"Your lies are so outlandish that they're almost funny. The fukutaichou of the 5th Division never left Seireitei last night," one said.

"What?" Kiru was wide-eyed in disbelief.

"We have one hundred and twenty four witnesses, plus one taichou who'll attest to that. There's no way you can place the blame on him," the member continued.

"That's impossible!" Kiru exclaimed as a member of the Reversal Counter Force arrived in a shunpo.

"Reporting in! We've found evidence that indicates he was conducting Hollowfication experiments in the 12th Division's research facilities!" The man told Central 46.

"It's decided then. I shall declare your sentences! Taichou of the Kidō Corps, Tsukabishi Tessai! For using forbidden techniques; you shall be jailed in the level three underground prison for high felons! 3rd Seat of the 12th Division, Urahara Kiru! For researching forbidden material and carrying out experiments on it, deceiving your comrades and seriously injuring them; you will have your spiritual powers drained from you and be banished to the human world for all eternity. Finally, the poor 10th Division taichou and the rest of the victims of your heinous research shall be exterminated as if they were Hollows immediately!" The head of Central 46 declared.

"Just let me explain!" Kiru begged, before the entrance doors suddenly opened, revealing a shadowed figure standing in the doorway.

"Who are you?" One demanded.

"Who gave you permission to enter Central 46 during an interrogation?" Another shouted.

Many yelled angrily at the disruption.

"Leave right this minute, you low life!" the head member called loudly, just before the intruder came into the room with extraordinary speed, freed Kiru and Tessai from their restraints and disappeared in seconds.

"Get them, they're bandits! Is anyone out there?" Many of them shouted, not knowing that all the guards had already been knocked unconscious.

...

— Sōkyoku Hill hidden training ground —

"Thank you, Shihōin-dono." Kiru bowed his head gratefully at the man who was Yoruichi's father.

"I'll slap you later for not getting me when you guys got back," Neji grumbled, with a heavy sigh. "I brought all nine of them here, 3rd Seat Kiru," Neji added, pointing to the eight unconscious Shinigami and one Arrancarfied Quincy a few metres away. "I also brought all of the new gigai you've been working on. Now start talking. I want whatever strategy you thought up for the worst case scenario back when you first heard about this from Shinji," Neji demanded, a guarded look on his face.

Kiru was really smiling now. "You've completely seen through me; you are sneaky," he laughed as Neji crossed his arms.

"You're one to talk," he responded seriously.

"Tessai, could you freeze time for Hisagi and the others? Then put level two and three barriers around this area. In the next twenty four hours, I'll make gigai for the two of us and the nine of them; eleven gigai that will completely cut off our spirit energy," Kiru started.

"Tessai and I will go to the human world and try to reverse the Hollowfication process," Kiru decided, before glancing down at the Hollowfied Shinigami. Grimmjow now resembled a panther; Neliel an ibex-like centaur; Yoruichi a cheetah; Shaolin a bee; Rangiku a bipedal cat; Gin a fox; Byakuya a stag-like samurai; and Shūhei a horned demon.

The three nodded in agreement as if they were deciding the future of the worlds between themselves.

...

**A/N**: Shaolin Feng is Soi Fon's Japanese name.


	2. Introductions

**QueenPersephoneofHades**: Here's the real chapter 1, since the one before was more the prologue. And thanks for the idea of Masaki's bone fragment. I hope you enjoy!

**darkmachines**: I'd like to thank you for the OCs you let me use and the ideas that have yet to be put in place. Here's the next part.

_**Chapter 2: Introductions**_

**IV**.

_One hundred years later..._

Hueco Mundo is an endless white desert, which is the home of many thousands of Hollows. It is always night and the moon is forever in a lunar phase. The only liveable place there is Las Noches; home of the Arrancar, Hollows that have been able to remove their masks and have gained Soul Reaper powers.

The current leaders of Las Noches were Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, Yoruichi Shihōin and Neliel Tu Odelschwanck: former Shinigami who had fully Hollowfied because of Aizen's experiments, had their masks removed and became Espada-class Arrancar; however, they had refused to bend to Aizen's will, so the corrupt fukutaichou exiled them from Soul Society. In the end, they decided to call Hueco Mundo home, along with their Vizard companions who Aizen also banished because they didn't suit his purpose.

Up on a high balcony, stood the ten Espada, the most powerful Arrancar in Las Noches, and their Fracción; as well as the Vizards. The Espada numbers ranked from zero to nine; zero being the strongest and nine being the weakest, but they were all still powerful and respected by the other Arrancar and Vizards. Also sitting with them is the Exequias Commander; even though the leader is an Espada, she picked this dual position to protect Las Noches from intruders or anyone else who would want to hurt her fellow comrades.

First there is the Noveno, or 9th Espada, Rudobon Chelute; the second-in-command of the Exequias. His aspect of death is Execution. His Hollow mask covered his face with a bull-shaped skull. His Zanpakutō is a standard katana with a white handle. The number nine tattoo is on the right front side of his neck, which is hidden under his collar.

The first of Rudobon's Security Numerós is a slender, black-haired girl with two long ponytails and pink eyes. Rudobon believed her Hollow hole is in her left eye in the middle of her mask fragment. The bone covered her left eye; it is shaped around her eye with teeth dotted along the bottom of her mask and there is an extension from her mask into her hair which gives the appearance of a hair tie. She is Arrancar thirty-three, Loly Avirrne. Her Zanpakutō took the form of a small dagger. Loly's number thirty-three tattoo is located on her left hip.

His second Security Numerós is a girl with short, blonde hair and green eyes. Her Hollow hole and mask remains were identical to Loly, but were located on her right eye. She is Arrancar thirty-four, Menoly Mallia. Her Zanpakutō took the form of a short katana. Menoly's number thirty-four tattoo is on her left elbow.

Next is the Octava, or 8th Espada, Szayel Aporro Granz; the pink-haired scientist. He is the head of Las Noches Research and Development Institute, as well as the head researcher and spiritual weapons development specialist. His aspect is Insanity/Madness. Szayel's Hollow hole is over his private area; a place where all the other Espada thought it is wrong. The bone fragments take the form of rectangular-framed glasses. His Zanpakutō is a standard katana with a greyish-blue handle, grey sheath and its guard is similar to the nucleus of an atom. The number eight tattoo is on his right hip.

Szayel's Fracción consisted of Lumina, Verona and other unnamed creations, including Nemu Aporro Granz, who is the leader of Szayel's Fracción and the strongest. Nemu is Arrancar sixty; the location of her tattoo is unknown, but some believe it is on the inside of her right upper leg. She is a young woman with green eyes, black-purple hair and her mask remains is on the back of her neck. Her Zanpakutō took the form of a wakizashi.

After him is the Septima, or 7th Espada, Cyan Sung-Sun; a slender young woman with long, flowing jet-black hair and lavender-coloured eyes. Her aspect is Suffocation. Her Hollow hole location is still unknown and her bone fragments create a long, three hair clip-like extension on the right side of her bangs. Her Zanpakutō took the form of a sai. Her number seven tattoo is positioned below her chest.

Cyan's first Fracción is a tomboyish girl with heterochromia; her right eye is ice blue, while her left eye is amber with a red outline around it. She has dark blue jaw-length hair and her mask remains are on the top of her head with a horn in the middle. She is Arrancar fifty-four, Emilou Apacci. Her Zanpakutō is very different from other Arrancar; they are the collars that she wears over her wrists. Her fifty-four tattoo is on the left of her chest.

The last is a dark-skinned woman with long, thick wavy brown hair and green eyes. Her Hollow hole is positioned midway between her navel and chest. Her bone fragments form a three-sectioned crown around her head and a thick necklace. She is Arrancar fifty-five, Franceska Mila Rose. Her Zanpakutō takes the form of a broadsword. Her number fifty-five tattoo is on her bottom's right side.

Next is the Sexta, or 6th Espada, Nnoitra Jiruga; the rude and lecherous Arrancar. His aspect is Despair. His eye patch hides the mask fragments, consisting of a small set of jawbones and teeth surrounding his Hollow hole. The tattoo signifying his rank as 6th Espada is located on his tongue. Nnoitra's Zanpakutō is uniquely different from the Zanpakutō of many of the other Espada since Santa Teresa takes the form of a giant axe-like weapon bearing two crescent moon-shaped blades fused together at the backs, with a large looped chain connected to the shaft at the end of the handle. The chain is connected to Nnoitra's waist, allowing him to perform long-ranged attacks.

Nnoitra's only Fracción is a young, slim man with dirty blonde hair and brown eyes, but wore an eye patch over his right eye. He had an odd turquoise marking on his right cheek and his bone fragment appeared to be a thin upper jaw which formed a circlet around his forehead. He is Arrancar fifty, Tesla Lindocruz. His Zanpakutō resembled an unusual rapier with a chakram embedded into the blade just above the hilt and spike on the hilt rim. The guard seemed to be made of a kind of scaled ribbing. His number fifty tattoo is under his right eye, but one could not see it because of his eye patch.

Next is the Quinto, or 5th Espada, Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez; the powerful, muscular, light blue-haired Arrancar. His aspect is Destruction and his Hollow hole is located on his abdomen. Grimmjow's mask remains consist of his right jawbone. His Zanpakutō is a standard katana with a crooked "S" guard, while the sheath and handle are light blue. The Quinto's number five tattoo is located on his back, near the right side of his Hollow hole.

The first of Grimmjow's Fracción is a serious man with black hair, which is braided. His Hollow hole is located in the centre of his abdomen and his mask remains were on top of his head, with a portion dropping down to cover his upper-left half of his face and a long spike that points to his right. He is Arrancar eleven, Shawlong Kufang. His Zanpakutō is a standard katana with a guard shaped like an oval with a gap down the middle and hollow corners. His number eleven tattoo is somehow under his bone fragment and above his left eye.

Next is a handsome, blonde man. His Hollow hole is in the centre of his chest and his mask remains are on top of his head and looked like a broken helmet. He is Szayel Aporro Granz's older brother: Arrancar fifteen, Yylfordt Granz. His Zanpakutō is a regular katana with a diamond-shaped guard. Yylfordt's number fifteen tattoo is on his right shoulder.

Grimmjow's second last Fracción is an early twenties looking, slim, lean-built man with piercing emerald eyes and black messy, shoulder-length hair. He wore standard Arrancar attire. His Hollow hole is in his lower abdomen and his mask remains is a shark jaw on his neck. His Zanpakutō is a katana with a royal blue hilt and a four pointed crown shaped guard. He was an easy-going guy with a lot of pride. He was a bit of a ladies man and could lure them in with his seductive grin. He is Arrancar thirty-two, Rey Tiburon, and he was ready to have some fun in Grimmjow's group. His thirty-two tattoo was right under his neck. Grimmjow smirked to the guy and took a liking to him.

The last Fracción looked like the youngest in the group. He had short grey hair and square, shark-like teeth. His Hollow hole is in the centre of his chest and his bone fragment is a bulky helmet. The right-hand side of his mask is wrapped in aqua coloured bandages, which obscured his right eye. He is Arrancar sixteen, Di Roy Linker. His Zanpakutō is a katana with a white hilt and sheath. His number sixteen tattoo is located under his right eye, which is very hard to see.

Next is the Cuatro, or 4th Espada, Avirama Redder; the impulsive, rude and impatient Arrancar. His aspect is Battle/War. His Hollow hole is located on his lower abdomen. His number four tattoo is located on the left side of his chest. He had numerous red tattoos across his chest and his mask remains took the form of a beak-like helmet on top of his head. His Zanpakutō is a standard red katana with an oval-shaped guard and a protrusion on four sides.

Avirama's first Fracción is a young man with smooth blonde hair and crimson red eyes. The bone fragment is around his eyes in the shape of a visor. He is Arrancar fifty-seven and Harribel's adoptive son, Toshiyuki Harribel, who abandoned his foster parent when he learned of her siding with the enemy. His Zanpakutō is a standard katana with a red hilt and a grey sheath. His number fifty-seven tattoo is on his left shoulder.

Next is a large guy, with long red hair; however, half of his hair is shaved and black. His Hollow hole is on his chest and his mask remains are merely the eye holes, which rest on his nose and look like unusual glasses. He is Arrancar thirteen, Edrad Liones. His Zanpakutō is a regular katana with a hexagonal-shaped guard. His number thirteen tattoo is on his left shoulder.

The next guy was tall and bulky with black spiky hair. His mask remains is a skull with a bull like horn and it covered the upper-left quarter of his face. He is Arrancar twenty-nine, Aldegor. His Zanpakutō is a katana with a long pink handle and a flower patterned guard. His number twenty-nine tattoo was on his left shoulder.

The next Arrancar is a youthful, young man with spiked red hair with the end in a braid and amber eyes. His hollow hole was in the center of his chest and his mask remains is a jaw which rests on the upper-left side of his head. He is Arrancar thirty, Menis, and he was ready to rock. His Zanpakutō is a katana with a green handle and a guard that has a half circle on both sides. His number thirty tattoo was on his back, just below his neck.

The last guy had dark brown hair in a bowl-cut hairstyle. His Hollow hole is in the centre of his chest and his bone fragments covered exactly half of his face. He is Arrancar fourteen, Nakeem Grindina. His Zanpakutō is a standard katana.

Next is the Tercera, or 3rd Espada, Yoruichi Shihōin; former childish Shihōin princess, now the responsible general of the Stealth Force. Her aspect is Assassination. Yoruichi's Hollow hole is located on her lower abdomen. Her bone fragments extend from the knuckles of her right hand downwards, giving her a clawed finger look. Her Zanpakutō took the form of a standard kodachi with a star-shaped guard and a red handle. Her number three tattoo is located on her chest.

Soi Fon is Yoruichi's second-in-command. Her bone fragments take the form of bee wings on her back and her Hollow hole is in the centre of her chest. Her Zanpakutō changed to a wakizashi. Soi Fon is Arrancar sixty-three and her sixty-three tattoo is in located below her neck and just above her chest.

Rangiku Matsumoto's mask remains took the form of a cat's head, which stopped just below her eyes. Her Hollow hole is located on her lower abdomen and her Zanpakutō reformed as a tachi. Rangiku is Arrancar sixty-four and her sixty-four tattoo is located on her chest.

Gin Ichimaru's bone fragments took the form of a fox-shaped helmet. The location of his Hollow hole is unknown and his Zanpakutō has reformed to become a broadsword. He is Arrancar sixty-two and his tattoo is on the underside of his right jawbone.

Finally there were two almost identical-looking girls: one with short red hair and one with long blue hair. Both their Hollow holes were located in the centre of their chests. Their bone fragments act as headbands, which go vertically down the middle of their head before reaching their eyebrows. They are Yin and Yang Tachibana. Before meeting Yoruichi, they were young Vasto Lorde. Yang's Zanpakutō is a flaming sword and Yin's Zanpakutō is a long whip that generates electricity. While becoming Arrancar, they were not strong enough to be part of the Espada. Both girls look up to Yoruichi like she is an older sister. They are Arrancar thirty-eight and thirty-nine; Yin's thirty-eight tattoo is located in the middle of the left side of her back, while Yang's is in the same position on the right side.

Following her is the Segunda, or 2nd Espada, Neliel Tu Odelschwanck; the mature, composed and logical Arrancar, as well as the Exequias Commander. Her aspect is Sorrow. Her Hollow hole is located in the centre of her chest. Neliel's Zanpakutō stayed in the form of an odachi with a green sheath and the guard resembled a pair of crescent moons joined together at the back. The remains of her Hollow mask were located on top of her head as a ram's skull. Her number two tattoo is located on the back of her right shoulder blade. Also on her back, the tattoo of a large 'Ex' shows her stature as the Exequias leader.

Her first Fracción is a white skinned young man with blonde hair. His Hollow hole is positioned near his stomach and his mask remains were shaped like a beetle. He is Arrancar forty-one, Pesche Gautiche. Pesche's Zanpakutō is a katana with a hilt vaguely phallic in appearance and its guard consisted of two crescents that face outward. The number forty-one tattoo is on his left arm.

The second is a large, heavyset man with small, white hands. His mask remains took on the form of a tiki mask. He is Arrancar forty-two, Dondochakka Bilstin. Dondochakka's Zanpakutō is a large club with several spikes on it.

Her third is the former noble, would-have-been head of the Kuchiki Clan, Byakuya Kuchiki, or lil' Byakuya as Yoruichi still calls him and his Hollow hole is on his abdomen. His mask remains took the form of a visor on his forehead which is melded with the rest of his bone fragments to below his eyes, the exact middle of his nose; there was also a fully formed antler on the left side of his head. He is Arrancar forty-three. Byakuya's Zanpakutō is a wakizashi with a reddish handle and sheath.

Number four is a muscular guy with ice blue eyes and long wavy purple hair. His mask remains took the form of a small tiara with horns. He is Arrancar twenty, the beautiful and fabulous Charlotte Chuhlhourne. His Zanpakutō is a katana with a purple handle and sheath, with a guard shaped like a flower with holes in the petals. His number twenty tattoo was on the back of his neck.

Neliel's last Fracción is a man with short black hair, dark grey eyes and he has the number "69" tattooed on his left cheek. Shūhei's mask remains are on the very top of his head and take the form of demon horns, yet they are surprisingly the same shape as his chained Zanpakutō, Kazeshini's, horns. The position of his Hollow hole is unknown, but Grimmjow believes it to be in the same location as Szayel's. He is Arrancar forty-four and his Zanpakutō is the two kusarigama-like weapons, each with two scythe blades, with one inverted, giving it the resemblance of a pinwheel.

Next is the Primera, or 1st Espada, Ichigo Shiba; the stubborn, strong-willed and impulsive Arrancar with black hair and brown eyes. His aspect is Power. His Hollow hole is located in his upper chest. Ichigo's mask fragment is on the top right quarter of his face. His Zanpakutō is a katana with a rectangular round edged cross guard and a dark blue hilt. His number one tattoo is located on the front left side of his neck.

Three Fracción-class Arrancarfied Quincy stood firmly beside the Primera's side: the first is a man with white hair and a complete bone fragment of a wolf's jaws over his own mouth; the second is an orange-haired woman whose bone fragment consisted of a masquerade mask over her eyes; finally, the third is a teenage boy. His mask remains were that of a shark jaw on his neck. All three wore Quincy garb, still wielded their bows and were known as Ryūken Ishida, his son Uryū and Ryūken's could-have-been wife, Masaki Kurosaki. Ryūken's Hollow hole is positioned in the centre of his chest, Uryū's the lower abdomen and Masaki's the sternum. Ryūken, Masaki and Uryū are Arrancar fifty-one, fifty-two and fifty-three respectively.

He also had Nanao Ise as a Fracción; she is Arrancar sixty-five and her sixty-five tattoo is located on her right shoulder. She is a slim and youthful girl with long black hair normally kept pinned back, with flat bangs that hang to the right side of her face. Nanao's Hollow hole is located in the centre of her chest and her bone fragment consisted of it covering her right eye and arcing backwards in the shape of a dragon horn. Her Zanpakutō is an odachi, like the 2nd Espada's, but her Resurrección form is quite different.

Finally, the Cero or Zero Espada, Coyote Starrk; the strong and lazy Arrancar that liked to sleep a lot and his other half Lilynette Gingerback, a hyper action girl that preferred to wake Starrk up in painful ways. His aspect is Solitude. His Hollow hole is on his sternum, while his other half's is positioned in the centre of her stomach. Starrk's bone fragment consisted of a fanged bottom jaw that is positioned on his neck as if it is a necklace. Lilynette's mask remains were a helmet with two horns on top of her head. The left horn looked as if it had been cut off and the left half of her mask covered her left eye.

Starrk is equipped with a standard katana with a pewter-coloured rectangular guard with small protrusions on each corner and a sun-like design wrapped around the hilt's collar, while Lilynette had a scimitar with a standard katana hilt and an oblong guard. Coyote's number zero tattoo is on the back of his left hand, which he concealed with a glove. Lilynette's tattoo is on her back.

Coyote's only Fracción is a slim man with long, flowing blonde hair and light purple marking around his grey eyes. His bone fragments consisted of a smooth helmet covering the upper half of his face with eye holes and a row of teeth sewn across his chin like a strap. He is Arrancar twenty-four, Findorr Carias. His Zanpakutō is a standard katana with a pink handle and a guard that resembled a rapier. Findorr's number twenty-four tattoo is on the left side of his neck.

...

The Privaron, former Espada, were led by Skullak Tuma, the kind and honourable Arrancar with brown hair and blue eyes. His aspect was Loneliness because during his many years as a Vasto Lorde, Skullak was a powerful Hollow and Hollows around him always died when they got too close. A few years later, he saved several strong Hollow that were strong enough to be near him with out dying. Soon enough, he met the love of his life and mate Cirucci. Their two groups became one and they travelled around Hueco Mundo together, until they met Aizen who was on one of his trips and became Arrancar. His Hollow hole was unknown, but some say it was located in the centre of his chest, but was only the size of a quarter. The only one who truly knew where it was is Cirucci. His mask remains is on the left side of his head, which looked like a broken gladiator helmet. His Zanpakutō is a katana with a black hilt and a golden circle guard. He is number one hundred and one and has four Fracción.

The first one is a silver-haired man. His mask remains is a crest along the right-side of his head. He is Arrancar seventeen, Aisslinger Wernarr. His Zanpakutō is a katana with a dark blue handle and a silver sheath. His number seventeen tattoo is on his right cheek.

Next is a fairly muscular man with brown hair and a dread-locked hairstyle with several ornaments and outstanding earrings at the end of them. He also has two lines tattooed down his cheeks and his mask remains cover the top of his face. He is Arrancar eighteen, Demoura Zodd. His Zanpakutō is a katana with a dark purple handle and sheath.

Next is a tall and slender built man. He had short light brown hair that is swept back, creating a peak either side of his head. His mask remains is a three hole mask that covered his left eye. He is Asgularo Ebern, Arrancar nineteen, tattoo location unknown. His Zanpakutō is a katana with a grey hilt.

Last is a man with his eyebrows and hair dark on the right and white on the left side. His hair reached down to his shoulders. His mask remain was a series of circular marks on his face above and below his eyes. He is Luders Friegen, Arrancar twenty-one, with the location of his tattoo unknown. His Zanpakutō is a katana with a green hilt.

Arturo Plateado is Privaron one hundred and two. He has long, turquoise hair and yellow eyes. The remains of his Hollow mask are on his right cheek. It appears to be the upper jaw, but is extended around the back of his head and has a sort of crest. His Hollow hole is located below the base of his neck. His aspect is Arrogance and his Zanpakutō is a tachi.

Dordoni Alessandro Del Socaccio, the goofy, but strong Arrancar, is Privaron Espada number one hundred and three and has one Fracción. His Hollow hole was unknown, but some thought it was located in the centre of his chest. The Privaron's mask remains consist of a small plate on his forehead that has horns. Dordoni's Zanpakutō took the form of a standard katana with a purple hilt and green sheath and a long downward-curved cross guard. His aspect is Pride.

The Arrancar had white hair and pale grey eyes. His features matched that of an eighteen-year-old. His mask remains is an arrow point up on his forehead and he wore a similar uniform as Dordoni, but had a black sash. His Zanpakutō is a katana with a lime green hilt. He is Arrancar thirty-six, Fran Santonio, and he would forever be honoured to be Dordoni's Fracción.

Cirucci Sanderwicci, a beautiful purple-haired woman, is Privaron number one hundred and five and her aspect is Love. Her Hollow hole was still unknown. Some say it was located on the centre part of her mask remains or in the centre of her chest, but the only other who really knows where it was is her love. She also has wings on her back to help her fly and show emotions. They're up when she's happy, down when sad, and when they're fluttering is means she either embarrassed or excited. Her mask remains is positioned on her hair right above the left side of her forehead and resemble a spiked hairpin. Her Zanpakutō takes the form of a whip with a disc-shaped blade. She and her group travelled around Hueco Mundo with her love and his group. She met her love when she was still an Adjuchas, but after defeating and devouring an arrogant, but powerful Hollow, with the help of her love she became a Vasto Lorde.

Privaron one hundred and seven is an orange-haired man with an afro-style haircut. His mask remain are sunglasses-shaped on his forehead with four teeth coming out above each eye and a star in the center of his mask fragment. He is Gantenbainne Mosqueda and is Dordoni's oldest and best friend. Gantenbainne's aspect is Dignity. His Zanpakutō took the form of a pair of two-pronged punch daggers.

Aaroniero Arruruerie is Privaron one hundred and nine and his aspect is Greed. His Hollow hole is on his left thigh area. He wore an eight hole mask to hide his true face, though Arturo was the only Privaron who befriended him and didn't say any rude things about his face. His true face was a large cylindrical capsule filled with red liquid and two small, floating hollow heads in it. His Zanpakutō takes the form of a deformed brown tentacled appendage with a gaping maw at the centre, surrounded by various tentacles. He commonly hides it under the glove on his left hand.

**V**.

The first Vizard is brown-eyed Renji Abarai; former seated officer of the 5th, 11th and finally, 6th Divisions, before being banished with Kira Izuru, Rukia Kuchiki and Momo Hinamori due to not serving Aizen's purpose. However, Rukia is no longer with them, having been found in Soul Society for some unknown reason and is due to be executed for daring to return. His already long crimson hair, which is usually kept in a high ponytail, has grown longer in his time of banishment and he wears a maroon coloured bandanna covering all of the tattoos on his forehead. He also wears long dark straps on each wrist with bandages over his arms. His Hollow mask resembles a tattooed baboon's face, with quite a few teeth coming down from the top jaw, and two triangular points that go past his bandana, situating themselves over his hair.

Rukia Kuchiki, daughter of Byakuya, wears her black hair, which has several strands always hanging between her eyes, cropped into a bob which hangs about her face. Rukia's Hollow mask strongly resembles a white wolf's face with deep blue lines etched around the mouth in the shape of fangs, giving it the appearance of a snarling beast.

Kira Izuru, blue-eyed second son to Kagekiyo and Shizuka Izuru of the lesser-ranked Izuru clan and younger brother to Ryuu, has his short blonde hair combed into three points: two at the back of his head and a third combed to reach just below his left eye. His Hollow mask resembles that of a lion's head, as if his inner Hollow is attempting to shove some courage into his other half.

Momo Hinamori's Hollow mask is that of an eagle's face, giving her the strength she needs to fight through this time of despair that Aizen, Kaname and Mayuri have inflicted on everyone.

…

Grimmjow, Yoruichi and Neliel turned to the Espada, Fracción, Vizards and Exequias. "You may go now. Please show your Fracción around your domains and have them ready for the war. Our Vizard allies will get their own room to stay in." Everyone nodded and left with their Fracción to their respective headquarters, while the Vizards went to their separate rooms. All preparations were complete for now. The war against Aizen's evil Espada would come sooner than they thought.


	3. Strike

**Sir Godot**: I must thank you very much for allowing me to use content from _The Twisted Flower_ for my story. The Ichigo-is-Kaien plot will be put to good use in Resurrección.

**darkmachines**: Here's the third/second chapter, my friend. Hope you enjoy this; it only gets better in the next one.

_**Chapter 3: Strike**_

**VI**.

"_... There has to be a way to find the right flower! Wait! Ishida once said that a Shinigami's powers are red! That means that...!" Ichigo's eyes frantically scanned the cascade of flowers before him. He had to find it! His time was running out!_

_Then he saw it. A single red water lily could be seen among the hundreds of pink ones. Ichigo didn't know how, but somehow he managed to approach the water lily which was still stuck in the vortex and held onto it. Carefully, yet quickly he pried open the closed blossom. He stopped for a moment when he saw what was inside. It appeared to be a hilt of some sort. It was completely silver and adorned with a spiral that was wound around it._

_Ichigo got out of his stupor when he heard the mysterious woman shout something at him. "Now! Pull it out! Remember my name and call me forth!"_

_There was no hesitation. With his eyes shining with confidence Ichigo gripped the handle and started to pull. The woman was right. He knew her name. It was like a memory long forgotten came to the surface again, rising from the depths of his mind. "Rankle the Seas and the Skies…" With a mighty pull, Ichigo freed his weapon from its prison. A brilliant blue light shone around him when it was completely exposed. In his hand, Ichigo now held a beautiful trident that was even larger than he was himself. The whole weapon seemed to be completely made of silver, and only a blue tassel at the top was not in the same colour._

_Yes, this was his weapon, his own Zanpakutō. And the name of his Zanpakutō was… "Nejibana!"_

_..._

_Under Urahara's shop..._

_Kisuke and his dead ringer cousin, Kiru, watched silently at how Kisuke's employee and old friend Tessai restrained Ichigo Kurosaki with Kidō. While his outward appearance seemed calm and composed, the 'humble shopkeeper' was actually quite worried. It had been a lie that Ichigo would have recovered his Shinigami powers by climbing out of the Shattered Shaft. The only way for the boy to acquire his own powers was to enter his inner world and find them. But for a living soul to enter this place was almost impossible, and only those on the verge of Hollowfication had a chance, if they possessed dormant Shinigami powers that was. Even so… the chance the orange haired teen would turn into a Hollow instead of a Shinigami was still quite high. _If it comes to it, I'll personally purify him. I won't let him turn into a monster_._

_A sudden shout from Tessai alerted the green clad shopkeeper. It was incredible! The boy had managed to break the restraints and had escaped the Shattered Shaft. But as what? Was he a Shinigami… or a Hollow? When Ichigo landed outside of the shaft, he had created a huge dust cloud, making it difficult to see him clearly. Urahara could see how Jinta readied his club to be prepared for a possible Hollow attack._

_..._

_Ichigo was conscious. That was a good sign. He also wasn't running off on a feeding frenzy. That was even better. He was human shaped, that was another good thing. Some things seemed a little off, though. For one, his Shinigami uniform was wrong. Looking down, he could see the usually black kimono was white. For another, he could feel something on the top right quarter of his face. He reached a hand up to feel it, but stopped when he saw the skin of his hand was paler than it should be. This… was not good._

_Ichigo then noticed one more important detail. He couldn't feel his heart beating. Gulping, afraid of what he would find, he shakily reached for his chest._

_..._

_The Urahara cousins and the kids stared as the dust settled and Ichigo's form became visible. Like Ichigo, they noticed the reversed colours of his uniform, the red and white fragment of a mask covering the top right quarter of his face and the unnatural paleness of his skin. What Ichigo could not see was the colour of his eyes. Ichigo's eyes had been brown before he went into the Shattered Shaft. Now they were amber, set in a field of black. The Urahara relatives had only seen eyes like that on Hollows._

_Outwardly, they seemed the picture of stoicism. On the inside, Kisuke was cursing up a storm. The method used to return Ichigo's powers had been intended to make him a Vizard, a Shinigami with the ability to call on the powers of a Hollow. What the blood kin were seeing matched the description of the Vizard's opposite. They watched as Ichigo pulled open his kimono and looked at his chest. _Oh, shit_._

_Ichigo averted his gaze from his blade and instead looked at the kin, specifically Kisuke, his eyes not completely focused. He looked like someone who was seeing a phantom of some sorts. Ichigo's next words were only whispered, and yet Kisuke understood them perfectly. "Urahara-taichou? I think we've got a problem." His voiced sounded like he was moments away from freaking out. To be honest, Urahara couldn't blame him. The former taichou and newly formed Arrancar both stared at the hole in Ichigo's upper chest._

_The exiled Shinigami then realized what Ichigo had said and felt as if someone had emptied a bucket full of iced water over him. Ichigo had just called him a captain — and there should be no way for him to have known of this. Furthermore, he had called him a captain although he had been banished over a hundred years ago, so only one older than these one hundred years should be able to know of his former position. He needed to act completely unsuspicious, quickly. Sadly Urahara's acting skills left much to be desired. "Captain? Me? My my Kurosaki-san, you must have hit your head somewhere! I do not see any ships nearby, and why would a captain own a candy shop?"_

_The exposed captain could feel how a little bit of cold sweat ran down his back when Ichigo continued to look at him with glassy eyes. Then the orange haired teen blinked twice and shook his head, banishing the glassy look from his eyes. "Eh, what were we talking about? Sorry, I think I kinda spaced out for a moment."_

_The shopkeeper silently let out the breath he had been holding. He didn't know what had happened to Ichigo, but at least he had returned to normal. He couldn't risk Ichigo finding out about his captain status just yet, especially since he had been banished. It would hardly do him any good in the trust department. "Well, it must have been taxing to master the Shattered Shaft, so it's no wonder you were a little light-headed, isn't it? Do you want to take a break before we start with the third test?"_

_Ichigo shook his head and looked at the shopkeeper. "No, I think I need to burn off some energy. Oh… and I did promise to kill you for dropping me into this hellhole over there, didn't I?" By now, Ichigo's face adorned a grin that could only be described as feral._

_Kisuke chuckled. "I guess you did. You'll like the third test then. Your last test is simple: you have to knock my hat from my head. If you can do that even once..." He never got to finish the sentence. The moment he had described the test, Ichigo had lunged at him, his sword raised high. The exiled captain managed to dodge with a backwards leap, but his student didn't stop there. He immediately began to pursue his target. And Urahara couldn't help but to wonder about Ichigo's skill level._

Something's not right. Even if he had some experience fighting Hollows, his skill level is that of an experienced Shinigami with decades of practice. And his sword… he handles it too well for holding it the first time. His first sword was much larger and quite different to handle, yet he wields a normal katana much better. This isn't something you can do with talent alone. This is… pure experience!

_The former captain blocked Ichigo's last strike with his cane, his expression devoid of any mirth. Something was wrong with Ichigo. In the beginning, he had attacked the former captain with a serious expression on his face. Now his face was a mask of concentration and his eyes had once again lost their shine. It was as if he was fighting a machine. With a push of his cane Urahara managed to send the newborn Arrancar flying, creating some distance between them._

_Only absentmindedly the shopkeeper noticed how Tessai climbed out of the shaft and joined Jinta and Ururu in watching the battle. Something was happening to Ichigo, something he had not predicted. He couldn't afford to let his guard down. And yet nothing could have prepared him for what happened next._

_Ichigo held out both arms, his sword firmly in his hands. Then he slashed it once diagonally through the air and slowly a dark energy started to come from the weapon. "Destroy All Against You…"_

_Urahara involuntarily lowered his guard. There was no way he could have achieved Shikai already, not without guidance. And that incantation… it couldn't be...!_

"_Zangetsu!"_

_With a final slash, Ichigo now held a giant cleaver. Now Urahara knew what had disturbed him when he had first seen Ichigo's new sword. He had seen it before! It was the sword of…_

"_Kaien Shiba… It cannot be-"_

_And it wasn't Shikai now!_

_It was the release command of his Resurrección!_

_"Boss! Watch out!"_

_Tessai's loud voice snapped the exiled captain out of his stupor, and just in time. Not a second later, Ichigo was in front of the shop owner, swinging his cleaver with deadly accuracy. There was no doubt; this was Nejibana at the heart of the transformed Zanpakutō, the sword of the deceased lieutenant of the 13th Division, Kaien Shiba. But how could Ichigo possess it?_

_All thoughts and theories had to wait for now. Ichigo appeared to be running on pure instinct, pushing Urahara back more and more. After an especially powerful blow send Urahara skidding backwards, the exiled captain used the chance to release his own Shikai._

_"Awaken, Benihime!" There was no way around it; he had to knock him out. It didn't seem like Ichigo would wake up on his own in the near future. Urahara swung his sword, releasing crimson energy from his sword._

_"Bind, Benihime." The energy condensed upon its master's command, forming a multitude of crimson coloured threads that proceeded to wrap around the orange haired teen and completely restrained his movements. Ichigo couldn't move at all and thus was unable to block Urahara when he chopped Ichigo's neck, knocking him out for good. Ichigo's body slackened and remained only upright because of the crimson threads that were still wrapped around him. The bucket-hat wearing man let out a sigh of relief and returned his sword to its sealed form, banishing the threads along with it. Before Ichigo could hit the ground he was caught by Tessai who easily lifted the young Arrancar up. The cleaver glowed for a moment before it returned to its katana shape. Both Urahara and Tessai silently stared at the sword as the shopkeeper put it back into its sheath at Ichigo's side._

_It was Tessai who broke the tense silence. "Boss… this sword…"_

_The former captain nodded, his expression unexpected grim. "Yes Tessai-san, there's no doubt. This is indeed the sword that belonged to the deceased lieutenant of the 13th Division, Kaien Shiba. Nejibana… I never have expected to see it again and in the hands of an Arrancar."_

_"What does this mean? Both for the boy and the mission I mean."_

_A shadow was cast over Urahara's eyes by his hat as he started to explain his theories. "I don't know yet, Tessai-san. It might be possible that Ichigo simply inherited the same sword as Kaien-san did. I heard of a similar case in Soul Society not too long ago. Two academy students both acquired the same sword and were forced to fight against each other. But I think there's more to this than we think. Kurosaki-san called me 'Captain Urahara'. Thus I think there's a high chance that Kurosaki-san has access to the memories of Kaien-san, whom I did meet when I was still a captain. Furthermore Kurosaki-san fought me on a level he shouldn't have achieved yet, especially not with a weapon he has never wielded before."_

_A sigh escaped the former captain of the 12th Division. "This complicates things… On the other hand this might also be a great chance. Kaien-san was a genius, surpassed by only two other Shinigami in regard of raw talent. We'll have to see just who exactly it is that inhabits the body of Ichigo Kurosaki before we can act. But if he is indeed what I think he is, we might just be able to throw a wrench in Aizen, Mayuri and Kaname's plans."_

_Tessai nodded silently. Their plan had born an unexpected fruit. Now they had to see just what kind of fruit it would be._

_..._

_When Ichigo opened his eyes, he was greeted this time by the sight of an old man standing on a flagpole. "I see you've returned."_

_Ichigo turned his head and was surprised to see the new dark-haired figure. "What happened?" Ichigo asked. "I remember that I was fighting with Urahara, but at some point I… I…" Ichigo stopped. What had happened to him?_

_"It appears you were overwhelmed by your memories." The man said calmly in a deep voice. Ichigo's eyes widened a little when the man took a step off the pole and floated to the ground._

_"My… memories? Why would they overwhelm me?" Ichigo asked in confusion._

_The man's expression remained serious as he reached Ichigo's spot on the skyscraper. "These memories are not yet completely known to you. Those memories belonged to another 'you', a 'you' that died a long time ago. When you regained your own powers, those memories were pulled to the surface along with your power."_

_Ichigo was stunned. "Another me…? Rukia told me that souls that go to Soul Society are reborn at some point, but how should I be able to remember…? Urgh-!"_

_Suddenly a blinding headache befell Ichigo, who clutched his head in pain. He heard voices, unknown and yet familiar. Disconnected pictures, faces… And while everything seemed so clear, so easy to take a hold off, they all eluded his grasp. The pain slowly subsided, and when Ichigo opened his eyes again he could see how the man looked at him with a sad frown._

_"It must be so painful. You are more than just the memories of your past self since you made many memories on your own in your new life. In time everything will return to you. And then we will see how your mind will develop from there."_

_Ichigo rubbed his temples with his hands in hope of banishing the remains of the headache this way. "What do you mean 'will develop'?' I'm still me, right? I am… I… am…"_

_"Ichigo Kurosaki!" "Kaien Shiba!"_

_Ichigo groaned in pain as his headache started to get worse again. What was going on? Who was Kaien Shiba? What was he thinking? He was Kaien Shiba… No…_

_"Aaaaaaaaaargh!"_

_Ichigo screamed as the pain became unbearable for him. His fingers started to dig into his skin as he clutched his head, unable to withstand the new onslaught of memories._

_And then it stopped._

_Ichigo blinked a few times as he tried to figure out what had happened just now. It was then that he realized that the silver haired woman's spirit from before was hugging him. Her embrace made the pain ebb away, and a profound calm overcame Ichigo. The teen slowly closed his eyes and bathed in the warmth the woman seemed to radiate. It was as if all his troubles did not matter anymore. For the first time since what felt like an eternity, Ichigo felt at peace._

_"It's alright." The woman whispered. "I'll be there for you. No matter who you were or are now, Kaien or Ichigo, I'll always be at your side. As long as you trust in me, I'll lend you my strength for any ordeal you have to pass."_

"_Hey old man, where is Nejibana?"_

"_She's not here right now," the darkness-based Zanpakutō spirit answered. "You're a dual Zanpakutō wielder, that's all you need to know."_

_Nejibana's words from earlier were like a light of hope in the darkness. Ichigo felt how his consciousness started to fade away. But it was alright this time. There was nothing to fear. He was not alone._

_"Thank you." Ichigo whispered. "Thank you, Nejibana."_

_With a smile on his face, Ichigo sank into the darkness. A smile that was mirrored by his dual Zanpakutō spirits._

_"No… thank you, Ichigo… Kaien. It was you who freed me from the darkness. And this time, we will not fade away again. I promise." Nejibana was the only one who spoke_.

...

**VII**.

"Resurrección... Segunda Etapa." The speaker's spiritual energy began to circle around him and pulse out in small waves, as his skin itself began to change.

But before his opponent could see, the Espada's spirit energy covered his entire body, it being this way for a brief few moments before his thin, whip-like tail batted it away. Once it did, it revealed the orange-haired Espada to have undertaken yet another transformation. While Ichigo had retained his Resurrección's horns, they now curved backwards from his head, instead of pointing forward. His Arrancar uniform was gone, chest fully bare with his enlarged Hollow hole, which had two blue lines either side of it leading towards his arms, as well as two blue lines going down his abdomen and two straight down his face, on the right and left sides to the base of his neck.

Ichigo's waist was covered in something similar to red fur, which seemed to also cover his hands, sides of his neck and tail. His fingers were now claw-like extensions, similar to Grimmjow's. The irises of his eyes had become black, with the sclera now being a yellow colour.

But while Ichigo's mask was completely gone, his hair had grown much longer, reaching his lower legs.

The spiritual energy eventually died down. Ulquiorra Cifer's eyes widened imperceptibly. Ichigo Shiba's eyes met the Espada captain's in a harsh glare.

"What gives you the right to talk about upholding the law? Your so-called law demands that you kill Rukia, an innocent Vizard." Ichigo's eyes narrowed coldly, revealing the anger that seethed in his heart and the memory of being asked by the 5th Espada himself, Grimmjow, to join them as the Primera as they fought to reclaim Soul Society and purify their enemies. "Takes a lot of 'law-upholding' to kill a banished Shinigami, doesn't it? If that's the kind of law you're talking about, you can bet your sorry arse I'm gonna mess with it; I'm not the Primera otherwise."

...

"Stay close to me, Rey," Grimmjow requested to his best Fracción, Rey Tiburon, as they approached the locked-down building of Central Forty-Six.

"Yes, Grimmjow," the messy, raven-haired man answered in a laid-back tone. "Our reason for coming here is...?"

"We're finding a way to stop Rukia's execution," the Quinto Espada huffed gruffly.

It was the perfectly honest truth. It had truly made his day when they had come through their Garganta and he'd later found Mayuri Kurotsuchi, 12th Division taichou and the mad scientist of Seireitei, stuck fast to a pillar with his own Zanpakutō. Then the 9th Division's 3rd Seat had begun acting suspiciously. During an... altercation with the Zero Espada Coyote Starrk, Kaname had suggested he had a hand in Kurotsuchi's murder. Coyote would have died prematurely if the Primera and Tercera Espada, Ichigo and Yoruichi, hadn't intervened.

Then there was Forty-Six's strange behaviour. First, there was the death sentence of Rukia Kuchiki, Byakuya's daughter, for daring to return to Soul Society and then the lockdown and consequent speeding up of the execution process. Grimmjow's senses told him something was very wrong.

But that was for later. For now, there was work to do.

He knocked on the chamber door. Not only was it well-engineered, but it was reinforced with reishi-nullifying sekkiseki; so of course, getting through would be hard for a Shinigami. But Grimmjow was no Shinigami, not anymore.

The Espada raised his hand and channelled red spiritual energy into it.

He hoped the Central Forty-Six Shinigami would retreat at the first sign of the explosion...

"Cero," he murmured quietly, unleashing the pent-up energy.

A blaze of red streaked towards the door. His Cero met the sekkiseki and there was a thundering boom; it had hit the door squarely. The smoke cleared; Espada and Fracción witnessed the splintered door and wiped out wall on either side. Who cares how they did it; they now had access.

"Come on; we've got to hurry."

"Right behind you, Grimmjow."

...

Coyote groaned and opened his eyes. A female Soul Reaper with the medical pack of a 4th Division member peered down at him. "Ah, E-Espada! Are you feeling alright?"

"Ugh," the Zero Espada uttered. Coyote felt light-headed and knew he was in a bad way. That 3rd Seat of the 9th Division... Kaname, was it? He must be on Aizen's side, Starrk deduced lazily, since he hadn't helped him.

"Espada?"

He felt like he'd been shredded and Coyote realized it had been the foe's Bankai that had prevented him from attacking as he normally would have, sealing off almost all of the senses. Tōsen hadn't gone lightly on him and his Bankai was one of the most disparaging Zanpakutō in all of Soul Society. Luckily, Ichigo and Yoruichi had shown up.

"Uh, Espada? Would you like water? Can you hear me?"

"..."

"Uh..."

More silence.

The woman was getting flustered. Coyote smiled inwardly; he was giving the medics a heart attack. He closed his blue-grey eyes and tried to will the pain away. It still hurt a lot, but he could focus on not panicking the woman.

"I'm good," he rasped, before coughing. Said cough sent pain spikes into his brain, but he tried to ignore it. Something was off and then he noticed the hospital area appeared to be understaffed. "What have I missed?" he asked.

"The execution of Rukia Kuchiki has been changed to today. Everything's a mess. Fortunately-"

_Rukia, today?_ His blood went cold. He had to do something.

Coyote tried to get out of bed, but the room turned the wrong way and he fell back against the sheets.

"Espada, 5th Seat Akira Hagino at your service," he heard a new voice say. Starrk turned to the left and squinted, only just seeing the 4th Division's 5th Seat. "You didn't let 4th Seat Takara Hayashida finish her sentence. One of your friends managed to block and destroy the Sōkyoku and prevent Rukia's execution."

_That'd be Ichigo. Thank god_. "On top of that, Espada-"

"Call me Coyote," Starrk interrupted languidly. "And I'd like to know why 4th Seats and below weren't affected by the Arrancarfication?"

"Very well, then, Coyote. You've taken a beating and lost far too much blood. There are slash wounds all over your body and bruises everywhere else. Get up again and you're going to open every wound we've managed to seal shut using Kidō."

Coyote heard the woman clear her throat and he faced her again. "Uh... that would be because _they_ didn't think we had as much power as our fellow 3rd Seats; that's why 3rd Seats and above were targeted," Takara stammered.

He nodded, acknowledging her statement and simply uttered "Fine." to Akira. Damn it; he'd never been this badly defeated by wounds. He had to get to Rukia.

...

**VIII**.

Gin fanned his hand over Rangiku's face. The busty strawberry-blonde groaned and sat up slowly. "How long was I out for?" The former fukutaichou of the 3rd Division and now Fracción to the Tercera Espada asked her partner, raising an eyebrow.

"Roughly half an hour. Remarkable, considering Yumichika played with you like you were a ball. Except he wasn't supposed to _use_ his Zanpakutō, but you know what I mean."

"He what?!" Rangiku exclaimed dazedly. Glancing down, she realized she was still in her Resurrección form. She was thankful that both her Hierro and bone-like armour had protected her from most of Yumichika's Zanpakutō's savageness, but she could see where the 5th Seat's Peacock had cut her; mainly in the areas that weren't protected. Rangiku sealed her Zanpakutō and returned to her normal state. "Where's Cyan?"

"After Ichigo blocked and destroyed the Sōkyoku, Yamamoto decided to burn him. I, a mere Fracción, uh, tried to stab Yamamoto in the foot. He took offence to that and released Guardian of Ash and Flames. Evidently, after that happened, Cyan moved you a safe distance away from Zaraki and his goons and came to help out-"

"You did _what?!_"

"It'd be a good time to go, don't you think? Before an angry old Espada realizes where I went and torches Seireitei."

"_Why_ would you-"

"Remember what Grimmjow said? Things aren't right; not to mention he told us to contribute in any way we could."

"I know what the Quinto said, but why are you following the 5th's orders when you should be obeying Yoruichi? Now help me up. And stop grinning like that; it's making me uneasy."

"Yoruichi-sama's not around, is she?" Gin countered.

"She's obviously helping one of the others. You're _still_ grinning," Rangiku grumbled.

Gin grinned even wider. He did like to tease his partner. Maybe smiling was his default facial expression. It threw people off-guard for some reason, which wasn't a problem in his opinion.

He felt a hot, stifling breeze wash over him. Shit. Old man Espada. "Time to go," he huffed and heaved Rangiku up. Gin focused and sonido-ed away.

...

"This is bad," Rey heard Grimmjow say tightly.

He swallowed. _Bad_ didn't begin to cover it. Every single member of Central Forty-Six was slumped over their benches in pools of their own blood.

_Dried_ pools of blood. They'd been dead for some time; this meant that a lot of the orders that had been coming from Central Forty-Six... hadn't.

Rey swallowed again and moved his hand towards Tiburón Martillo's hilt. If whoever had done this was still around, he was prepared to defend his master.

He watched Grimmjow stand up from where he had knelt. "I was trying to detect the details of the person who did this, but nothing's coming up."

"They had to be good at hiding their presence then, Grimmjow," Rey replied. "But that doesn't add up; this place was sealed off, so why would they go to the trouble of masking their presence?"

"You've got a very valid point there, Rey."

"Jaegerjaquez," Rey heard a cold, sadistic voice say from somewhere. He jumped and tightened his grip on his Zanpakutō's handle.

"That's impossible," he heard his master gasp. "You're-"

"An illusion can do many things," the voice cut off Grimmjow. They saw a figure step out of the shadows.

Mayuri Kurotsuchi!

Rey immediately noticed Grimmjow's hand drop to Pantera. "Explain everything _now_, bastard!" The 5th Espada snarled.

He saw the taichou's lips curl into a mocking sneer. "I would have killed you the moment you entered the chamber, if you were anyone else."

Grimmjow stayed alert, his feline senses waiting for any sign that would tell him to attack. "Why didn't you?"

"Because don't your kind want to know the _truth?_"

"Truth?!" Grimmjow spat. "We _already_ know the truth! Aizen experimented on us and cast us out when we refused to serve him. He also banished the Vizards because they didn't suit his purpose! Don't babble to me about _truth!_"

A chuckle of derision. "He wasn't the only one who had a part to play in that plan. There were three of us in total."

"Us?"

"_Who_ is not important to you right now."

Rey stepped up next to Grimmjow. "Then what are you talking about?" The 5th Espada snapped.

"I helped them remove Kisuke and wiped the memories of the ones we deemed powerful enough."

Rey's breath caught in his throat. Mayuri had done _what?_ Mayuri Kurotsuchi, the mad scientist he'd heard about from Grimmjow, taichou of the 12th Division?

"_Why?_" He heard his master hiss sharply.

"This is a new age, _Jaegerjaquez-fukutaichou_," Mayuri sneered condescendingly at the former fukutaichou. "Times change. Aizen wanted some pets, he got them."


	4. Clash part 1

**darkmachines**: Thanks for your comments. Here's the next chapter.

**QueenPersephoneofHades**: ROFLMAO. Yes, Mayuri is with Aizen. I've always hated Aizen, but I hate this world's Mayuri too. Canon Mayuri is different, but Resurrección's Mayuri may put me off him altogether. Who knows? Ulquiorra... hmm, chortles. He's hurt, alright, but not as badly as you're fearing. And Ichigo getting Nejibana was completely planned.

Now since I know the pair of you are rushing at me to get at the chapter, here it is.

_**Chapter 4: Clash part 1**_

**IX**.

Grimmjow tilted his head at the corrupt Shinigami, no — Espada. He was an Espada now. "_How does that make sense, Mayuri? He can't just turn Shinigami into Arrancar!_" the Quinto snarled.

The older Espada smirked arrogantly at Grimmjow, before waving his hand patronizingly. "Makes perfect sense, panther; he already has. I even volunteered," the face-painted scientist placed a hand on his chest. "Can't you tell?" He motioned purposefully to the grey, segmented, exoskeleton-like armour covering his shoulders down to his elbows.

Grimmjow took a glance to the side. Rey was standing loyally there, hand on his Zanpakutō. He could tell he was tenser than he'd ever been, even more than when he'd first became an Arrancar after a hard life as a shark Hollow all those years ago. But he could see Rey was taking hints from him. Good job.

He stared Mayuri in the eyes. "You're a fool if I ever knew one, Kurotsuchi. What do you hope to gain by _volunteering?_"

"Therein lies your mistake, _cat_," the taichou mocked. "Power is what I have to gain. Vast power. How strong do you think _we_ are?"

"Not strong enough to take on all the ones you abandoned, with _us_ helping them," the Quinto snarled.

He watched the 12th Division's taichou shake his head. "And that is where you're wrong, Jaegerjaquez. We Shinigami-turned-Espada outnumber the average Soul Reaper in Soul Society now. Admit it, Ikkaku or Yumichika could kill a 6th Seat or below if they put their minds to it; even a fukutaichou if they really focused. And you're not even taking into account our strongest Espada; the other taichou."

_The other taichou? Shit! Kenpachi!_ "Yeah, like they could beat us," Grimmjow snapped back somewhat boastfully.

"Oh, trust me. They can. They'll be banding together now that they know you're here and will defeat you all, one by one."

"What makes you say that?" Grimmjow growled. He hazarded a theory about where this was going to go and planned on rejecting whatever he said next. He had to keep the evil Espada talking until someone came and helped him.

He was one of the stronger good Espada, sure — Rudobon and Szayel kept telling him he was — but he had Rey with him. He had to make sure Rey got out of the way, if this was going to get as ugly as what he thought.

The scary thing was that Kurotsuchi's sly mind had probably come to the same conclusion and was stalling _him_ until the other parts of "us" returned.

He was seeing the mad scientist in a new light.

"Not that long ago, a Menos Grande attempted to enter the World of the Living; something that hasn't happened in millennia. It was only stopped two half breeds and three powered humans. And in the last year, the number of incursions of Hollows into both Soul Society and the World of the Living has been higher than any ten years in the last five hundred."

"Which means what? It means we need the Thirteen Court Guards squads now more than ever, if anything!"

"What it means, panther, is if we continue to antagonize the Hollows, we will push them beyond their limit of tolerance and force them to spread. There are only two places they can go."

Grimmjow blinked quietly. Perhaps he hadn't worked out where this was going yet. "As long as Shinigami purify them, they're kept in check."

He observed Kurotsuchi shake his head again. "That only works on an individual basis. When a Hollow first forms, it rapidly gathers whatever spiritual energy is in the immediate area to craft its new form. When Shinigami purify a Hollow, the cleansed Whole moves to Soul Society. The power that the Hollow gathered to itself goes straight to Hueco Mundo. With all of that saturation, the Hollows are growing stronger and more ravenous. They consume each other until Gillians are a common sight and Adjuchas roam the sands."

"The answer is not to destroy the Soul Reapers!" Grimmjow protested in disbelief. But he knew the answer already.

"Diplomacy can be tried, as well as attempts to keep them in check by other means... but we can't. Eliminating a Hollow only agitates Hueco Mundo and you know diplomacy isn't even going to work there."

"So you want to kill every Soul Reaper?"

"When I became a Soul Reaper, I swore to protect Soul Society, Jaegerjaquez. Only my appearance has changed, not my goals. If I have to kill every Soul Reaper to do it, then I will."

Grimmjow looked like a mallet had hit him. _Damn it, think_. He was in a risky situation here, with a supposedly dead Espada revealing none other than high treason had he still been a Soul Reaper.

The troubling part was that Kurotsuchi's words and motives almost made sense, in a cold, merciless way.

Almost.

"After the Soul Reapers are slaughtered, what will stop the Hollows from attacking?"

Mayuri tilted his head mockingly at the Quinto, his lips pulling into his usual sneer and eyes narrowed. "The Espada, of course. They bow to any power greater than their own."

Grimmjow peered at the scientist. He couldn't see it; Kurotsuchi's motives were only for his band of evil Espada and it didn't make any sense. But he knew Mayuri also wanted power to control Soul Society outright, to wrench it out of Yamamoto's hands.

Damn it all to hell. His fingers twitched on Pantera. "You said you would have killed anyone else who entered. Why not us?"

"Idiot panther!"

"We're asking you to join us, Jaegerjaquez." A new, detached voice spoke. Cold suddenly filled the room, causing Grimmjow's eyes to widen. The Quinto shifted his eyes and saw Tōshirō Hitsugaya, with his bone fragment being the complete bottom jaw of an ice dragon, walk in from the entrance as if it was all planned.

_Hmph, two of them now_. "Just me?" He asked, making a gesture of Rey beside him. Rey jerked and faced him, eyes wide. He hadn't wanted to do that, but he had to keep them talking.

"Do you take me for a fool, cat?" Mayuri asked patronizingly. "I know the Hammerhead would be by your side if you wanted to kill Yamamoto, destroy the world or even become God." The scientist stared at the Fracción, who looked away swiftly. "I also know you have a human as your Primera and you are all loyal to each other like the stinking low lives you are. I trust your judgement in who we bring into this, Jaegerjaquez."

He was going to say something, maybe keep the evil Espada talking, when he felt the Fracción at his side. _Rey?_

"I'll follow wherever you go, master," Rey commented quietly.

He inhaled sharply, before hissing in relief. Rey wasn't going to betray them. Drawing Pantera from its sheath, he faced Mayuri and Tōshirō without a word. Grimmjow heard Rey draw Tiburón Martillo a moment later. "Then I refuse," he growled, with a feral smirk plastered on his face.


	5. Clash part 2

**darkmachines**: Thank you so much for your review. Here is part two. I hope you enjoy.

**QueenPersephoneofHades**: I know you didn't review part one; I understand that you were busy, trust me. But I'm putting this here anyway to acknowledge you. Onto the chapter now.

_**Chapter 5: Clash part 2**_

**X**.

Gin felt a faint tinge of spiritual pressure wash over him. It wasn't old man Espada. Not scorching enough for that. It had almost felt like the Quinto's, but muffled and distorted. Distortions like that were usually caused by heavy sekkiseki concentrations. "You felt that, right?" He asked Rangiku.

"_Yes_, Gin. I'm strong enough to walk on my own now. Thank you."

"Ah, don't mention it. Anything for my friend."

"You're _still_ smiling; I thought I told you to get rid of it." The strawberry-blonde groaned.

"I have this inkling you're not appreciating my efforts."

"You said it, not me."

He gave an exaggerated sigh. Rangiku didn't seem to notice. Bah. In any case, that splash of spiritual energy had come from the west. And if it was coming from where he thought it was coming from — the chambers of Central Forty Six — things weren't looking very good. The place was supposed to be locked down and if Grimmjow's spiritual signature was coming from inside...

Gin flinched when he felt reishi like a hot gale blow into him. He momentarily scowled. "It's just not right that old man Espada can move that quickly." He became aware of a backlash of wind. "To top it off..."

What? He was alone. Rangiku had sonido-ed away towards the source of the original spiritual energy. He sighed. "She is too serious when she puts her mind to it." Gin moved to follow his fellow Fracción.

...

Rey felt his knees go weak and stabilized himself, standing strong. He was sure Grimmjow would be fighting his hardest, but these were taichou-class Espada they were talking about. Things did not look good unless help showed up _right now_.

Still, his place was at the Quinto's side.

"I'd say I was disappointed in you, Jaegerjaquez," he heard Kurotsuchi speak. "But I would be lying. I'm disgusted that you won't see the truth that's so clearly staring you in the face!"

Grimmjow was silent.

"It saddens me that you have to die." That from Hitsugaya. Adrenaline surged through Rey's veins. He saw the Quinto tense.

"Hunt, _Tiburón Martillo!_" He cried and let his spiritual energy flow into his blade. Wisps of pale blue light enveloped the royal blue hilted katana before fading to reveal a cross between a trident and a ji (a Chinese halberd) with a crystalline appearance. His released form took on the shape of a blue and white humanoid hammerhead shark.

"Grind, _Pan_-Hmph!" Too fast, he saw Kurotsuchi lock blades with Grimmjow. The evil Espada's blade was unreleased, which meant the fight could go Mayuri's way if he let loose his release form. No! With a yell, he hurled a Bala Martillo — a light blue bala that was twice as strong as a normal Bala — from his clawed fingers at Kurotsuchi.

There was a blur and Tōshirō was suddenly between him and Grimmjow. The released _Dragón de Hielo_ swatted the Bala away effortlessly.

The 10th Division Espada now seemingly towered over him with a complete horned mask covering his entire head, a winding, whip-like ice-blue tail coming from the base of his spine and two deadly wings that originated from his shoulders.

Tōshirō's whip-like tail was suddenly heading straight for his face. He had to move! Block! He brought his Zanpakutō up to a guard position. The tail was going to-!

...

No. No.

Rey staggered backwards as Kurotsuchi slammed his Zanpakutō to the side. The momentum spun him around. He was open! Had to move!

There was nothing. He managed to turn around and saw the older Arrancar cutting at empty air where Grimmjow had obviously just been.

"This won't do," he heard the scientist mutter condescendingly.

He forced energy into a La Mandíbula Gran Tiburón, sending a gigantic shark, far larger than himself, to attack Tōshirō. The young Espada was too busy fighting off Grimmjow to defend in time and the reiatsu-based shark exploded upon striking him full in the back. He collapsed. Yes! Maybe they had a chance to-

Unexpectedly, music note-shaped energy blasts struck the ground in front of him.

...

Grimmjow saw the opening. Had to take it now. Quietly as his injured body could manage — it hurt, fuck it — he charged towards Kurotsuchi, aiming for the Espada's heart.

Without warning, he saw Kurotsuchi's eyes widen at something and then that — damn it all — arrogant sneer came back. "I wish you the best of luck trying to weasel your way out of this one, _panther_," the face-painted Arrancar remarked scornfully.

_What?_ But there was no time to think about it. Had to hope he could run Mayuri through before whatever the other Espada was doing could-

Then he found himself face-to-face with a golden-feathered humanoid bird-like Espada with a golden whip. Where had he come-

The whip lashed and coiled and he was flung to another part of the room... with Rey in front of him instead of Kurotsuchi. No! He had to stop...

But he couldn't. Not in time. Momentum was too great.

There was a solid _thunk_ as his Zanpakutō rammed home. Horrified, he stared at his Fracción, _Pantera_ lodged in his chest. His eyes were wide with shock and whatever he was trying to say was lost in a bubble of blood from his mouth.

NO!

With a strangled roar of anger, he skipped his first stage Resurrección form and went straight to the second. "Resurrección... Segunda Etapa." Rage fuelled his transformation; there was no holding back, not anymore.

The colour of his clawed hands extended further back, stopping just above the elbows. He lost the form-fitting white segmented armour, revealing a more defined musculature, with his chest bare and his Hollow hole becoming slightly larger. Grimmjow's lower half was covered with the smoothest blue fur and he had a very long, thin and powerful tail. His hair was even longer and was turquoise. The headgear was reduced to two small bone fragments which framed his eyes in the shape of claws. Green sideburn-like fur, starting from his neck, encompassed each side of his face, from the eyes and his cat-like ears were still present.

He roared furiously again, deliberately cutting his own hand by slicing it against what little metal of his Zanpakutō was not in Rey's chest. A massive ball of spiritual energy raced towards Kurotsuchi. He'd poured more power into the Gran Rey Cero and, by God, he was going to wipe that snarky, haughty Espada right off the face of the-

Shadows suddenly burst to life before him and Kyōraku and Ukitake appeared, already prepared for battle.

_Piscis de Relámpago y Ondas_ was levelled at Grimmjow's Gray Rey Cero. It seemed to pour into one blade of the Zanpakutō and the rope and charms that bound the two blades together glowed red hot. Jūshirō jabbed the other blade of _Piscis de Relámpago y Ondas_ at the Quinto.

Then there was nothing but blinding white.


	6. Fail

**QueenPersephoneofHades**: Don't worry about Tōshirō too much. I'm not giving anything away. Grimmjow indeed kicks serious butt. Pity at the outcome. Gin x Rangiku shipper here *points to self*. If Gin hadn't chosen the path of darkness in canon, I'm sure he and Rangiku would have been lovely together.

**darkmachines**: Six is awesome, my friend: debuting lower ranked favourites and whatnot. Thanks for your review.

_**Chapter 6: Fail**_

**XI**.

"My, what was that?" A lively voice piped up.

"Retard, don't ask me. You're the scientist." The second speaker, an extremely rude and lecherous one, snapped back.

The Octava Espada, Szayel, laughed lightly and flicked his pink hair away from his eyes. He and the Sexta, Nnoitra, had looked through the 13th Division's barracks because of orders from the Septima and Cuatro Espada, Cyan and Avirama, since the two kept insisting that "something wasn't right". Then Szayel and Nnoitra'd headed off towards the 8th's because of the same thing. There had been some traces of Lisa Yadōmaru having been there but, other than that, nothing.

But now, that... _really_ strong blast of spiritual pressure from the direction of Central Forty Six. Pretty sure there wasn't anything in the barracks run by a taichou-class Espada who wore a pink robe all the time. Same couldn't be said about Central.

"Nnoitra, we're changing our destination."

"Moron," the other spat.

...

"You go first," Gin told Rangiku as they came up to the blasted open door of Central Forty Six.

"Why should I go first?"

"Well," he shrugged, "you've got a feline Resurrección, so you should be able to see in the dark."

"Gin, it's not-"

"I _know_ it's not the same thing. My goodness. Humour me for once or would it kill you?"

"It would," he heard Rangiku choose to use a deadpan tone.

"You're no fun, lover," he sighed. He was detecting a lot of reishi coming from inside the place, both the residue from refined usages like Kidō and the raw force of spiritual pressure. The sheer force of it was... disconcerting. He stepped through the entrance, Rangiku right behind him.

As he walked down the stairs, he caught glimpses of dead sages littering the place. Looked like they were dead for quite a while, which had depressing implications for Rukia. Rangiku had wordlessly released her Zanpakutō, Salvaje Gato, and was looking around with feline eyes.

In her Resurrección form, she resembled the wild-looking Bengal breed of cat: a female's torso with a cat's body from the waist down, gaining muscular, furry legs with spots on them similar to a leopard and a thin, ringed tail. In addition, she has bone-like armour over her body, with feline teeth, sharp claws and paw-like feet.

Gin was sure she was seeing things he couldn't see with his own eyes.

However, it didn't take any special senses to work out that something bad was waiting at the bottom of the chamber. He slid Sigilo Zorro, his own Zanpakutō, out of its sheath, resulting in a metallic rasp. He carefully hid his broadsword under his white hakama, which was slightly more difficult than what he thought it would be.

They continued their way down and he felt the reishi concentration become stronger with every step. Whatever had gone on here had been serious business. To make matters worse, he was sure he was detecting the very faint spiritual energy of the Quinto and his shark "puppy", Rey.

He saw something move in the shadows. Eh?

"Ukitake," he heard Rangiku say.

"Ran, you know he's one of the-" Gin attempted.

"My illness is not troubling me today," the formerly jovial white haired taichou intoned in a monotone.

Gin arched an eyebrow, but kept the surprise off his face. _So, even Ukitake succumbed to the brainwashing? How sad. Oh well, best try and get him back on our side_. "Sounding remarkably impassive there, Ukitake."

"The wonders of viruses and encoding," another voice spoke, also emotionless.

Kyōraku? _Shit!_ He angled his head to his fellow Fracción behind him. "Rangiku," he whispered, "follow."

"Lead," was the hissed reply.

He sheathed himself in reishi and used it to sonido the rest of the way down to the floor. A static sound behind him told him Rangiku was right behind- _what the hell?!_

Against one of the walls was the battered body of the Quinto, bleeding and burned in places, and not too far off was the still form of Rey, with what looked like Pantera sticking out of his chest.

He fought to keep his jaw from dropping in shock. This was not good at all. Had to work with what he had, though. He plastered his usual smirk on his face. "Oh," he said flippantly, "here I thought Grimmjow liked that little puppy of his."

Attack or flee? Kyōraku and Ukitake had the clear advantage over himself and Rangiku in a fight, regardless of whether they were brainwashed with their memories wiped. That said, the only way out was the way they had come and the other two Arrancar would easily be able to stop them.

The third option was to make as much noise as possible and hope they didn't have nasty things done to them before someone came to check out the situation. Something Kyōraku had said, though, was bugging him. He couldn't work out what it was.

"Maybe Grimmjow got tired of the shark trailing him like a dog," he continued, angling Sigilo Zorro so it was pointing to where he hoped Kyōraku was. He concentrated on his Zanpakutō and its release, which was not an easy feat since he was trying to talk at the same time. "It does look quite fetching, but why did he stick Pantera in his chest and not lop off one of his-"

_Shoot to Kill, Sigilo Zorro_.

The blade of his Zanpakutō burst from under his hakama, shredding a portion of it before Gin's Resurrección form was revealed. He had become more fox-like. His body was covered in reddish fur; he sported a fox's tail and top jaw and his feet were replaced with stronger, fox-like paws. With both eyes forced open after the change, they were now amber and he also gained whiskers. His fox helmet remained the same.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Rangiku leap into battle, locking blades with Ukitake.

What were they getting themselves into? Oh well, no turning back now.

…

"I'm sensing Gin's spiritual energy," Szayel toyed with the words.

"RETARD!" Nnoitra yelled. He shook his head, pissed off with how the Octava thought this was a game. "I sensed it, too. Or have you forgotten how to use Pesquisa, _moron?!_"

They were standing at the shattered door of Central Forty Six, which was not very locked down at all and blown to smithereens. Considering the door was reinforced, it would take quite a bit of force to do that.

The pair moved inside and made their way down the stairs. Something was definitely wrong with this place. The Central Forty Six Shinigami weren't supposed to be dead, for a start. Secondly, there shouldn't be the sounds of battle coming from the bottom level of the chamber.

The 8th and 6th Espada tightened their grips on their Zanpakutō, instinctively knowing their base Resurrección forms would be useless; they would have to go Segunda, which meant a lot of lives were on the line. Had to hurry. Whatever was happening sounded-

"_Oof!_" Nnoitra was winded briefly as something slammed into him, hard. What… Gin? He shook his head to rebuke the Fracción and recover his breath faster. "You moron! What the hell are you-"

"_Move!_" Gin snarled, shoving him back. Hunh. The damn Fracción hadn't answered-

He watched in surprise as a returned Bala slammed into Gin. Nnoitra straightened and looked sideways at Szayel; both Espada nodded in unison.

"Resurrección... Segunda Etapa." The pair declared.

While Nnoitra retained the horns on his head, with the left having corrected its length to match the right and a new pair of downward turned smaller horns underneath the originals, his entire body had become mantis-like in appearance, with four legs, and was white. There were yellow markings all over his body; with the most noticeable one starting from the middle of his chest, going down to cover his crotch and wrap around his hips. He also had a large yellow 'X' originating from the centre of his chest, which went upwards towards his shoulders and downwards towards the middle of his abdomen. Nnoitra's lower arms were now sickle-shaped. Two locks of his raven-coloured hair had grown down to his elbows, while the rest flowed behind him, reaching to the ground. The golden marking remained the same. His Hollow mask was another feature that had changed, with the teeth disappearing altogether.

Szayel's Segunda Etapa form became serpentine from the waist down, revealing the unfortunate placement of his Hollow hole over his private area and six purple stripes; three on either side. There was a purple ring just before the end of the tail; the tail tip itself purple and made up of a cluster of the red drops. The branches, now numbering eight, have thinned and changed to become spines, the first six holding the same amount of strands, but they were bunched together. The garment of his base form has all but melded with his skin, but there was a 'V' shape from his shoulders to the centre of his chest, leaving that area of flesh bare. There are two purple stripes on either shoulder and his arms from the elbows down are purple with very long, almost spine-like fingers. Two horns grew backwards from his temples, curling towards the ends; a black kind of mask covered most of his face with three purple lines going down it, including over his eyes; part of Szayel's fringe fell to the right side of his face; and finally, two long strands of pink come down to his chest.

…

Neither Espada liked doing things like this; unplanned and without proper knowledge of what they were going up against. But in this case, going up against an opponent they didn't know _personally_ who looked strong enough to hurt their Primera, they had to react first and hope their counterattacks would throw them off.

Nnoitra's sickle arms shot open and he lunged forward, wanting to knock Ukitake unconscious. He continued his descent and hit the ground slightly crouched. Had to evaluate and quickly. To his right, Rangiku. Looked seriously injured. Ahead, what looked like Grimmjow, also hurt badly. Beyond the Quinto was… was…

His movement ceased.

Rey. Rey, with a Zanpakutō shoved right through him. He forgot everything and just stood there, staring at the Fracción as he lay bleeding on the floor.

Grimmjow cheated him out of the shark, but now was not the time for grudges. His grey eyes saw red, red despite the fact the room was beginning to spark yellow from the very high spiritual pressure he was leaking. His sickles kept flexing, though he wasn't doing it consciously. End them. He was going to find the evil Espada who did this to Rey and he was going to _end them_.

There was the sound of static in the air and two Espada appeared in front of him in a haze of reishi. Shunsui Kyōraku and Jūshirō Ukitake. They had done it.

He started to step forward.

Huh? He heard another ripple of static and a third figure appeared behind the two evil Espada. His eyes widened. Rōjūrō Ōtoribashi?

Kyōraku and Ukitake jerked and took a step away from the 3rd Division taichou-class. He saw that the blonde taichou's eyes were cold as they wandered over the other Espada.

What now?

...

Hurt. Hurt bad. Really bad.

Grimmjow groaned and tried to open his eyes. Every part of his body hurt. Whatever hit him hadn't held back. Wait. What happened again? His head was spinning so badly he couldn't remember who had managed to turn his body into one big mass of pain. He remembered coming to Central Forty Six and meeting someone. Who-

_Rey_.

His eyes shot open. In front of him, a few dozen feet away, Rey's unblinking eyes stared back at him. Those bastards.

He rolled himself onto his side and tried his best to look around the room. He got an eyeful of an odd tableau involving Nnoitra and Szayel in their second stage forms and Kyōraku and Ukitake. Rangiku was in the corner, slumped against a wall, and beside her was Tōshirō, still very much out of it. And he swore he could see Gin higher up on the stairs. _Hmm... Mayuri must have left Hitsugaya for dead. That will work to our advantage_. With another groan, he rolled onto his stomach and levered himself up onto his hands and knees. Fuck, it hurt.

He glanced back at the two older Espada and became aware of a new figure. He blinked. He couldn't quite make out the face; his vision was so bloody blurry. Blinked some more. That seemed to help. He could barely make out the face of the other Arrancar.

He breathed a sigh of relief. It was Ōtoribashi, the 3rd Division taichou-class. If he was able to drive them off with Nnoitra and Szayel's help, he would be able to get aid for Rey.

Heal...

His blood froze. Grimmjow glanced again. Ōtoribashi's eyes were narrowed and cold, completely emotionless. _Fuck_. Rōjūrō wasn't here to contain Kyōraku and Ukitake.

"We can assume the Quinto has solved the puzzle," he heard Rōjūrō utter without emotion.

Grimmjow returned his focus to Nnoitra and Szayel. Looked like they hadn't quite followed what Ōtoribashi had said. _Damn it_. He focused reishi into his arms and prepared a Cero. Didn't have enough strength for a Gray Ray Cero, but if he could hit just right, it would distract them long enough to retrieve his Zanpakutō. Yanking it from Rey's chest would cause even more life-threatening damage, but they were _dead_ unless he had a weapon.

He pushed himself off the ground and levelled a finger at Rōjūrō. "Cero!" As soon as the bolt of red arced from his fingertip, he sonido-ed towards his fallen Fracción. He had to-

...

Now Nnoitra and Szayel understood, just as they saw Grimmjow raise a finger. Rōjūrō wasn't here to take the other Espada into custody.. he was a part of their plan.

Damn it all. Again, no time to think or plan. At Nnoitra's roar, they charged forward, ready to strike.

They could-

...

Gin couldn't believe it. He hadn't even seen Ōtoribashi move from his location.

But how else could you explain it when Grimmjow, Nnoitra and Szayel exploded into droplets of blood? Or that slight ripple in the air around Ōtoribashi that betrayed a flawless sonido? Or the barely perceptible motion of Rōjūrō sheathing his Zanpakutō.

Whatever the case, their three best Espada were down, which gave Gin the depressing thought that he and Rangiku were next.

He fired another Bala and the near-instaneous speed it had behind its projection would rock them back on their heels for a bit.

Or… Ukitake could jump in the way and intercept it with one of _Piscis de Relámpago y Ondas_' dual blades. He watched the charms glow… and then the white-haired Espada flicked the other blade back in his direction.

Shit! Ukitake hadn't hit it that hard! What kind of tricks were they playing at now? What exactly was _Piscis de Relámpago y Ondas_ capable of? It wasn't very fair, whatever the reason.

He barely saw Rangiku attack again because he was too busy looking at Rōjūrō and how he was just staring at Ran coming at him. Then it immediately got harder to breathe as Ōtoribashi, then Kyōraku and Ukitake, released a massive amount of spiritual pressure, blocking him and Rangiku from doing any more through sheer force of will.

They were going to die. Any second now and Ōtoribashi would-

"We don't have time for this," he spoke soullessly. "We must retreat before the Primera realizes what is happening."

"Agreed," he heard Ukitake answer expressionlessly. "Shunsui?"

"Let's go." He saw Kyōraku look back at the still form of Grimmjow. "Forgive us, Jaegerjaquez."

Then the three of them were gone, swallowed up by the shadows.

Well, that was an interesting turn of events. "Ran," he called to his lover. "Relay a message to any of the others you can reach. I'll try to stabilize the wounded."


	7. Outcome

**darkmachines**: There was good action in it, alright. Yeah, that's Nnoitra for you. And I put only one Fracción with Grimmjow for a reason. That battle was it.

**QueenPersephoneofHades**: Wait and see, my friend. Wait and see.

_**Chapter 7: Outcome**_

**XII**.

Rey was in front of him. He moved to put a hand on his shoulder. "Thank you, Rey," he told him. He had always been there for him, loyal in every sense of the word, always at his back. Always supportive. "Thank you. Goodbye."

In a splash of hot blood, the tip of Pantera emerged from his back as the Fracción looked up in horror. He glanced down. His hand was on the hilt and it twisted the blade as whatever the Fracción was going to say was choked off by the blood flooding his throat.

"No!" Grimmjow growled and bolted upright. There was a popping noise and when he turned to the left, he saw one of the medical devices had died, spitting electrical sparks. Must have released a wave of spiritual pressure after that nightmare.

Wait a minute. Why were there medical machines here? Wasn't he still at Central Forty Six? He looked down at himself. Huh. Why was he wearing infirmary clothes? Why-

"Welcome back to Hueco Mundo, retard," a voice spoke from his right. He turned. Huh, Nnoitra.

In a flash, he remembered what had happened. Central Forty Six, Ōtoribashi, everything.

"Rey?" He practically pleaded at Nnoitra for information.

The Sexta Espada tilted his head and stared calculatingly at Grimmjow with narrow eyes. Finally, he relented. "Still unconscious and in a grave condition, but no longer in any danger."

Grimmjow's eyes widened unnoticeably and the corner of his top lip twitched. Was that the first time the Sexta hadn't spoken harshly to anyone? If it was, it was a change he approved of. He nodded and released the breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. "Good to see you made a quick recovery," he responded, changing the subject. Didn't feel like thinking about Rey right now. "While I was spending time on the floor after getting hit by the reflected attack, I saw you and Szayel taking some bad hits. And after Ōtoribashi took us out of the fight, I expect it got harder."

"Szayel and I were in better condition than you, Gin or Rangiku, since we barely got the chance to fight. Gin, however, was essentially taking the attacks full force. They barely felt any of our attempts."

"I always knew they were powerful, but I wasn't expecting them to be _that_ strong," Grimmjow considered. "Took on three Espada and three Fracción. Regarding victims, how is dear Tōshirō?"

"His wounds were far less critical than yours, Quinto. I'm assuming his ice armour softened the blows he received that he wasn't outright killed. He's just over there," Nnoitra motioned with Santa Teresa, since he was back in his normal Arrancar body. "He doesn't remember anything. None of them do."

"Eh? Them?" _Who?_ His back started hurting, so he lowered himself back to the bed.

The Sexta returned his gaze to his superior fellow and grinned in twisted delight. "We gained a number of allies. Tōshirō, Ulquiorra, Lisa and Ggio. Three taichou-class, one fuku-taichou class."

Wait a minute. "_Three_ taichou-class?" Grimmjow was astonished.

"Amazing, I know," Nnoitra muttered sarcastically. "Ichigo overwhelmed Ulquiorra in minutes; had him out cold for hours."

"Hmm." Interesting indeed. "Did he stay in Segunda for long after the battle was over?"

"No. In any case, we're one step closer to getting Soul Society's Soul Reapers back and restoring ourselves."

Grimmjow closed his eyes and let his head sink into the pillow. He heard Nnoitra leaving the room. "We should thank the Primera _and_ his friends."

"Hmm?" The Quinto opened his eyes again.

"Espada are not doctors, Grimmjow. Even if you weren't exhausted and half unconscious from blood loss, you, Rey, Szayel and I and possibly Hitsugaya would have died on that floor. I'd bet that a full Division of the 4th's medical Shinigami would have only slowed our deaths, not stopped them.

The powered ryoka girl — Orihime Inoue they called her — has some unusual abilities. She managed to heal us from the brink of death. The strain was clearly too much for her, since she passed out before much of our injuries were closed but, as it stands, she stabilized us and gave the medics the time needed to get us out of danger. You _and_ Rey owe your lives to that girl."

Grimmjow nodded in contemplation. He _did_ owe a lot to the Primera's friends who'd sided with them once they learned it was a mission to save Rukia. His life. Rey's life. And judging by how the ryoka disrupted Rōjūrō's plans, the Espada-Vizard alliance owed them a hell of a lot as well.

"I'll talk to them when I have a chance. Definitely."

"Good," he heard Nnoitra say. "I'll leave you to rest. Get well, moron."

He smiled faintly as the Sexta left his room.

...

Something soft was squishing against the left side of Gin's face. Warm and something about how they felt was vaguely... familiar. Also, the sound of snoring. And he could see wavy hair. Wait a moment.

His eyes shot open. He took a look and, yes, he was right in guessing what was smooshing on his face. He opened his mouth and bit lightly into the object pressing down on his face.

There was a loud shriek and Rangiku tumbled off the hospital bed, onto the floor. He burst out laughing. His lover spluttered incoherently for a few moments, before shrilly accusing: "Gin, you bit my _breast!_"

"Self defence," he responded with a smirk.

"What?!"

"You were suffocating me!"

"I was keeping you company while you recovered and I fell asleep!"

"You were _suffocating_ me!"

"You could have said something!"

"Except your exceptional bosom was pressed into my face. It would have been muffled!"

"You could have poked me in the ribs or tugged my hair or something. No portion of my body below my neck may be nibbled, even by _you_, except when I'm in the mood."

"Next time, _completely_ close up your hakama before you take a snooze next to me so we don't have this problem again!"

"It was warm in this room! I didn't feel like getting bitten."

Gin made a thoughtful expression cross his face. "You didn't mind three months ago, with the gold bandana and you pretending your na-"

"We never did that!"

"_Yet_." Rangiku made an exasperated noise. Gin grinned wider. "You're able to fake being unconscious, you know. It helped that my eyes were almost swollen shut. _No_, I was not purposely doing the squinting thing, so you have no reason to hit me." His fellow Fracción hit him. "Ow. Would it be too much to ask you to hit a shoulder that isn't bandaged?" He waited for the second punch. Never came.

Instead, Rangiku sat down on the bed and hugged him, hard. "You could have died in that place, Gin," he heard his lover whisper.

"I'm perfectly fine, really. Besides, you and I had them right where we wanted them." This time, Rangiku would punch him for sure. Right? Any second now?

The busty Fracción just sat back, looking out the window of the hospital room. Well, okay, this wasn't going the way he wanted it to. "If there was one thing I could say I hate about you, Gin, it's that." Hmm? Ran's voice had gone dead serious. For one of the few times in his life, he didn't have anything clever to say. So he just waited. "You've left me behind before so many times, Gin. The time before this, I thought it was for good. And if things had gone badly a week ago... it _would_ have been for good."

That he had. After he'd saved the pretty strawberry-blonde girl named Rangiku Matsumoto all those years ago, life had become... different. He had become used to living on his own, getting by. With someone else living with him after, well... He felt his usual grin leave his face. There were times he'd had to leave for days on end to get what they needed. Food, shelter, money, clothing, everything. Usually, he would deal shrewdly. Other times, he'd just outright steal. A couple of times, he had had to kill.

He had never told Rangiku. He'd been worried that the girl would just up and leave him. He'd probably been wrong about that, but that was water under the bridge. What mattered was that there had been just that many times where he would vanish with no signs that he had any intention of returning... and the day he'd left all the money, food and goods to Rangiku and entered Seireitei, he'd intended to leave the young woman forever.

But Rangiku had found him again. They'd reunited. Of course, for a while she was furious with him, but they reconciled. Sort of. Whenever Ran brought up the question of why he had left, he always side-stepped it with that obfuscating way of speaking he was good with. He was pretty sure Rangiku was used enough to his personality by then that the girl could have pressed the issue, but it had never happened. But now, after that little incident last week, it was coming up again.

Well.

"I'm sorry," he replied. Again, for one of the few times in his life, he meant every word of it. Rangiku stared back at him. His lover still looked hurt. "Ran, I'm not a nice person. Never was, never will be. The less you were around me, the better off you'd be."

"I grew up with you. Pretty sure I turned out fine." He watched Rangiku give a soft, gentle smile, something that was surprisingly rare. "And you could have just told me that, you know, when you started leaving."

"Yeah," he agreed. "I'm sorry about that, too."

He watched his lover nod. "Just to let you know, you're not a nice person. But I think you're a good enough one."

Gin nodded at that. Hold on, this shouldn't be happening. Had to change the subject before he started feeling warm and fuzzy inside. Or nice. "Just so _you_ know, I'm _not_ sorry about that nibble." He watched his lover raise an eyebrow before she lifted one of the pillows lying on his bed. He put on a wounded expression. "We were having such a nice conversation and now you want to end it?"

"You know, we understand each other well enough to know when a conversation is resolved and done," was the reply. "In that little conversation, I know you're still a decent person and that you're sorry, but I think we should get back to the subject of you biting me. _And_ pretending to still be in a coma when I've been worried sick about you!"

"About that second one. You know I have this thing with watching people and what better way to observe them when they think I'm unconscious? Besides, you wouldn't hit an injured man, would you? I mean, I'm covered in bandages. And the burns! Have you any idea how large the burn was on my-"

Rangiku whacked him with the pillow.

...

The Tercera Espada stood at the balcony, a sky of eternal night hanging over her head. A faint breeze blew over the desert sands, rising up along the walls of the imposing, gargantuan Las Noches fortress and disturbing her purple hair, which she no longer kept in a ponytail.

Yoruichi Shihōin, former taichou of the 2nd Division but now the third strongest Espada, turned from the desolate sight of the Hueco Mundo sands as she heard a distinct noise, the burst of static, behind her.

Another woman had appeared: younger and more muscular, with long raven-coloured hair and what looked like a hair clip-like extension adorning the right side of her bangs. The newcomer fell to one knee and dipped her head in respect.

"Good evening, Cyan," Yoruichi greeted amiably. "Please rise."

"Lady Shihōin," the Septima answered respectfully, inclining her head briefly before getting back to her feet.

"Is there anything to report?" The Tercera inquired.

"Yes, my lady. The Noveno and I finished filling in our allies about the situation. Ulquiorra was the most reluctant due to his memories being tampered with, but gave confirmation after a short silence."

Yoruichi raised an eyebrow at that. "You're sure he isn't going to double cross us?"

She saw the Septima give a small smirk. "I think not, my lady. Apparently, he never wanted to be part of Aizen's takeover bid in the first place."

The general of the Stealth Force smiled inwardly. "Then thank you, Cyan. You should get some rest. I'll send Avirama over to continue monitoring them tomorrow."

"Very well. Shall I take my leave?"

"Yes, you are dismissed." She watched Cyan give a respectful bow and, in a rush of spiritual energy and crackle of static, the Septima Espada was gone. Yoruichi turned to stare out over the desert sands. Soon, all preparations would be complete. As much as it pained her, the next part of their assault on Soul Society would begin before long.


End file.
